Before It All Began
by Kaiser La Britannia
Summary: Before he was a S-Rank criminal. Before he was the murderer of his clan. Before he was part of the Akatsuki organization. Before he was Hoshigaki Kisame's partner. Before all of that; he was Uchiha Itachi of The Hidden Leaf Village. This is Itachi's story about his friends, his team, his life before the massacre, and his lover. ItachixOC. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Before It All Began

A.N: This is my first Naruto fic. This has been on mind since ages and those who have seen my poll must be kinda confused because the DBZ fic has more votes but this isn't going to be a very long fic so I thought I should start and finish this one quickly. Anyway, enjoy and please review.

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Chapter 1

A boy of eleven through ran the woods as fast as he could. The boy had onyx eyes, black hair with bangs that framed his face and a low ponytail that reached into his upper back. He wore a black shirt with a large Uchiha clan symbol on the back, and pants with a weapon pouch strapped to his back.

He jumped from tree to tree with such speed that most eleven year olds couldn't. He looked back to see his pursuers who were hot on his trail. His face showed no concern as he threw back a few kunai blades aimed straight for the two but the pursuers managed to parry them with their own kunai blades and they proceeded to send him a smirk that made the black haired boy raise an eyebrow.

He looked back in front and what he failed to realize was the tall Leaf Jonin appear in front of him. "Gotcha!" He chuckled as he caught the emotionless boy in a bear hug. He had spiky light brown hair that was long enough to cover his shoulders and big light green eyes. He also had a clean scar on his right cheek which stood out from all of his features. He wore your traditional Leaf Jonin clothes.

The two pursuers caught up to the two and they seemed to be quite exhausted. "In your face Itachi!" A dark brown haired boy exclaimed. He had long spiky dark brown hair that came down his upper back and onyx eyes with a glimmer of light in them. He wore a blue shirt with a large Uchiha clan symbol on the back, with blue pants and a weapon pouch strapped to his sides.

"Are you okay Itachi-kun?" The second pursuer asked. She was the only girl of the group but her features resembled her two teammates'. She had long jet black hair that shone when exposed to the sun and enchanting onyx eyes. She wore a white shirt with a large Uchiha clan symbol on the back, with white pants and a weapon pouch strapped to her right thigh.

"What do you mean by that?" The boy asked in an annoyed tone. "Of course he's okay! It's not like Garuda-sensei crushed his bones." He grunted making the girl feel a little silly.

"Now now Ryo-kun." Garuda said with a smile. "Hisana-chan was just being concerned for her teammate. You should show some concern too sometimes." He chuckled. "And besides, you two need to pay more attention." He said making the two look at him with a quizzical expression.

Itachi's body vanished with a poof and it was replaced by small log. The two jumped back and activated their Sharingans to anticipate Itachi's movements. Within their crimson eyes, three tomoes had appeared and that meant the two had fully mastered the Sharingan. Not as early as Itachi but they managed it a year later.

They used each of their senses to the fullest but they couldn't track his movements. They used their advanced sight to find him, they used their advanced hearing to hear his footsteps, they used their advanced sense of smell and they also used their sense of touch to feel the vibrations but Itachi skillfully escaped their senses and appeared behind them.

"It's over." Itachi spoke coolly.

"Well done Itachi-kun." Garuda-sensei spoke cheerfully.

"Thank you Garuda-sensei." He thanked emotionlessly.

"That was amazing Itachi-kun!" Hisana said in awe. "We couldn't even tell where you were."

"Thank you Hisana-chan." He thanked emotionlessly.

"Aren't you going to congratulate your teammate Ryo-kun?" Garuda asked as he turned to him.

"No." He said making Itachi raise an eyebrow. Just then Ryo's body vanished with a poof and it occurred to them that it was a shadow clone. Ryo tackled Itachi to the ground from behind surprising everyone, even Itachi himself. "As I said, in your face Itachi." He smirked but his joy was short lived when Itachi's body vanished with a poof. Ryo's eyes widened when he disappeared but then he quickly turned around to see Itachi looking into his soul with his own crimson eyes.

"As I said, it's over." He said with a rare smile as he reached an arm out for him. Ryo took a deep breath as he grabbed his Itachi and pulled himself up.

"Nicely done Itachi." The dark brown haired child said with a smile.

"Thank you Ryo." Itachi replied emotionlessly.

"Well done all of you." Garuda said with a smile. "Now I know you're all Chunin but we still have to do some lower rank missions."

The two children who showed emotion on a regular basis frowned at this but Itachi, like always, showed no emotion.

"D rank or C rank?" Itachi asked.

"None." Garuda replied spiking their curiosity.

"We got a B rank mission." He smiled making Ryo and Hisana throw their fist into the air in delight. Itachi closed his eyes and curled his lips to a smile that was invisible to most.

"Where are we going? For the mission I mean." Hisana asked

"To the border of The Land of Fire. To gather some intel." Her sensei replied. The three shot him a worried look because all missions to the border meant that there could be a feud or worst, war.

"What for?" Itachi asked coolly.

"There have been sightings of ninjas from The Hidden Rain Village. We need to go there and find out if they're really there and if they are, we need to find out why." Garuda said with a lazy expression.

"Sounds dangerous." Ryo whispered.

"Scared?" Itachi asked.

"Oh please Itachi. I am not scared of anything." He smirked.

"Stop fighting you two." Hisana giggled.

"You have today to rest and to prepare for the mission." Garuda said as he jumped on to another tree branch. "Meet me at dawn in front of Hokage-sama's office. He wants to have a word with each of you before we go."

"Understood." The three responded in unison.

"Ciao." He waved as he vanished with a poof.

The three looked at the spot where their sensei once stood. Itachi made the first move as he began walking home but before he could take another step, Ryo halted him by grabbing on to his shoulder.

"You did this last mission but not this time." Ryo grunted.

"Forgive me but I must go home." Itachi replied emotionlessly as he turned to meet his _friends_.

"No you don't." Ryo growled. "You'll come with us to Ichirakus."

"I thought you disliked ramen Ryo-kun." Hisana asked with a quizzical expression.

"I do but you guys like ramen and besides…" He said as he put his hands behind his head. "They have good onigiris there."

"Let's go Itachi-kun." Said Hisana as she took his hand and led him out of the woods.

They walked through the village and like always, they could hear whispers among the crowd they passed. All three of them prodigies after all and they were from the illustrious Uchiha clan.

"Look at him." Ryo said as he glanced over to the vessel of the demon fox. "Treated like an outcast."

"He should be treated like a hero." Hisana added. "Too bad not everyone looks at it that way."

"I bet he doesn't have many friends either." Ryo grunted as he studied the blonde boy who ran from the crowd with tears rolling down his cheek. "Poor guy. He is about Sasuke's age right?" He asked as he glanced over to Itachi.

"Yes." He replied coolly.

"What do you think about him Itachi-kun?" Hisana asked the silent Uchiha boy.

Itachi took a long time to answer her because he had conflicting views about him. "He should be treated better." Itachi spoke coolly as he entered the ramen shop.

"Hello kids." Teuchi greeted them. "What can I get you three?"

"Good afternoon Teuchi-san." The trio greeted respectfully.

"Two bowls of ramen and two onigiris." Ryo said as he drooled at the sight of the onigiris. "I'll pay." He said he sent the two a smile.

"Alright then." He said as he took out two bowls and a small tray. "Ayame! Help me out here." He called his daughter from the back. She ran out of the kitchen but she froze when she saw Ryo. Her face lit up red and she let out a squeal as she ran back to the back part of Ichiraku Ramen.

"What's with her?" Ryo asked with a quizzical expression.

"Ayame! Come back!" Teuchi exclaimed but it was too late. She was long gone.

"She has a crush on you Ryo-kun." Hisana giggled.

"She's not the only one who has a crush on someone." Ryo said as he shot her a smirk. Hisana's face lit up red with two emotions; anger and embarrassment.

"SHUT UP!" She growled as she smacked him upside the head. It was no secret that she had been crushing on Itachi ever since she could remember. Itachi was well aware of this too but he didn't care too much about that matter.

"Ow! What was that for?" Ryo growled as he rubbed his head.

"You know exactly what!" She growled back. Itachi couldn't help himself but smile at his two bickering teammates.

"Calm down kiddies." Teuchi chuckled. "Time to eat." He said as he handed Itachi and Hisana a bowl of ramen and Ryo his tray of onigiri.

"Thank you." The trio thanked respectfully.

They began eating their respective dishes with the best table manners one could teach. They were of the Uchiha clan after all. They had to be the best at everything.

After a couple of minutes, the trio finished their food and walked out of the ramen shop. They began heading back towards to the Uchiha residence and most of their walk had gone by in silence.

"Tomorrow's mission is going to be intense." Ryo said breaking the silence.

"That is if there are any Rain ninjas there." Itachi argued.

"I have feeling that there might be some." Ryo replied.

"What makes you say that?" Hisana asked.

"Because Hokage-sama wouldn't really resort to sending the three of us plus Garuda-sensei to a mission where there _could _be a chance of an actual fight." Itachi explained.

"Exactly. I am sure that he knows that something will probably happen." Ryo explained further.

"I should pack more medicine if that's the case." Hisana spoke thinking about how much she should keep.

"That will definitely be the case Hisana-chan." Itachi said coolly. "Make sure you both are prepared for whatever consequence." He commanded.

"Right." The two said in unison as they finally reached the gates of the Uchiha residence.

"See you guys tomorrow." Ryo waved as he ran towards his home.

Itachi and Hisana lived a few houses away from each other so they walked to their homes together. After a few minutes of silent walking the two had finally reached the female Uchiha's house.

"I'll see you in the morning Itachi-kun." Hisana said as she gave him a smile. Itachi gave her an emotionless nod and with that, she walked inside her house closing the door behind her.

Itachi resumed his walk until he reached his house literally thirty seconds later. They did live really close to each other. Only Ryo lived far away from them for reasons unknown to the duo.

He walked inside of the household only to be tackled by his younger brother. "Nii-san!" He giggled excitedly. "You're back!" He cheered as he pressed his face into his older brother's stomach.

He gave him a smile that he wouldn't give to anyone else. He gave him an affectionate smile. "Where are mother and father?" He asked calmly as he ruffled his hand through his younger brother's raven hair.

"They are in the kitchen. They're having tea." He said as he ran to the kitchen. Itachi smiled at his younger brother's endless energy. He walked into the kitchen only to see his mother and father on the table sipping on their cups of tea.

"Welcome back Itachi." Mikoto smiled. Fugaku just acknowledged his presence by a glance.

"I have a mission to go to tomorrow." He stated.

"What rank?" Fugaku asked.

"B rank." He replied emotionlessly.

"Excellent." Fugaku said under his breath.

"When and where are you going?" Mikoto asked.

"We're leaving tomorrow in the morning and we're going to the border." Itachi replied.

"Then you best get ready." Fugaku said as he took another sip.

"I'll call you when dinner is ready." Mikoto added.

Itachi nodded and gave the two a bow as he walked towards his room. He sat down on his bed as he thought about the things he had to pack. Just then, his eyes travelled over to his bedside table and on the table was a picture frame. In the picture was Itachi himself and the other members of Team 5. In the center there was Hisana and behind her stood their proud Jonin sensei. Itachi stood on the right and Ryo on the left.

At first his father was totally against the idea of him being in a team with other ordinary people because it might hinder his training of becoming the best but once he found that he had been put in the same team as the other two prodigies, he eventually caved in. Garuda sensei's presence was also a big factor because he was an all rounder specialist.

Itachi erased those thoughts from his mind and took a deep breath. He had other things to think about so he focused back on his packing and began planning out counter attack measures just in case the enemy attacked.

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A.N: This is the end of the first chapter. I hope you guys liked and if you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to ask in your reviews or you can just send me a PM. I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review.


	2. Chapter 2

Before It All Began

A.N: Back with chapter two. Got nothing much to say so please enjoy and please review.

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Chapter 2

Itachi had arrived to the Hokage's office a little late but to his relief, one of his teammates was late too. He walked up to them and greeted his sensei and his female teammate with a respectful bow.

"Forgive me for being late Garuda-sensei." Itachi apologized. "Sasuke kept me for leaving on time."

"That's fine Itachi. Ryo-kun isn't here either." Garuda-sensei said as he glanced over to the clock.

"Good morning Itachi-kun." Hisana greeted. "How is Sasuke-kun?"

Good morning Hisana-chan. He's fine." He replied plainly. Just then they heard footsteps from the other end of the corridor. They were very slow footsteps and they seemed to be dragging themselves to the trio.

Out of the shadows, a gloomy Ryo appeared. He didn't look like himself, he looked rather depressed and sleep deprived. He had bags under his eyes and his eyes didn't have that lively look that he had yesterday.

"Good morning." He said half heartedly. "Sorry for being late." He made no eye contact with any of them like he usually would.

"Don't worry about it. You're just ten minutes late." Garuda spoke with a smile as he put his hand on the depressed Uchiha's shoulder.

"Are you okay Ryo-kun?" Hisana asked with genuine concern. He just gave her a nod and turned his attention to what's important.

Itachi gave his teammate a sympathetic look but Ryo was too busy in his own world to acknowledge that act of good will. Itachi was well aware of his situation. He was the son of Uchiha Satoshi and Uchiha Satoshi is the only full grown adult who was unable to awaken the Sharingan. Ryo's mother, Uchiha Raihime who was also an Uchiha, died in the war. Satoshi took out all of his anger at the only person he could take out all his anger on, his own son.

Itachi remembered talking to his father about his teammate and his father. Fugaku disliked that certain Uchiha because of his cowardly acts. All he used to do was sit at home and get drunk. Itachi sympathized with Ryo because he too had been traumatized by the war and his father wasn't helping him much about it.

"Ready to go in?" Garuda asked his students. At this moment everyone would expect Ryo to make a lot of noise and then Hisana would shut him up with a right hook and then Itachi would give them all a sigh or even a rare and faint smile but unfortunately, that wasn't the case today.

He proceeded to knock on the door. "Come in." An elderly voice called from the Hokage's office. Garuda opened the door and led the Chuunin of Team 5 inside of the Hokage's office. There they saw the Sandaime Hokage himself sitting on his seat with a pipe in his mouth. He was going through his paperwork but he stopped and set all the papers aside when Garuda and his students walked in.

"Good morning Hokage-sama." The four greeted as they gave him a bow.

"At ease." The Hokage ordered. "I am sure you all know why you're here." He paused to see the nods from each of the ninjas present. "Let me tell you everything you need to know. You'll be going to the border but as a stealth squad. You must not be seen or heard. Even by our own Leaf shinobi if possible. Go quietly and gather as much intel as you can about the enemy if there are any that is. If they _are_ there, call for backup no matter how small the number of enemies. Do not engage when you find them. Only fight when you have no choice."

"So we're going as a stealth team?" Hisana asked.

"That is correct. All four of you have Anbu level stealth skills so it should be no problem for any of you." The elderly man replied. "Do you have any more questions?"

"Who will you send? As backup I mean." The Jonin asked.

"Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai."

"I heard that he's got the title of 'Copy Ninja Kakashi'." Garuda remarked. The Hokage gave him a nod and then he turned his attention to the rest of members of Team 5.

"Satsui Garuda, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Hisana and Uchiha Ryo. Good luck to you all. Leave immediately." The Hokage ordered.

"Yes sir." The four said in unison as they began making their way to the gate.

Itachi was lost in thought about two things. One was the mission and the amount of danger it carried and the other was Ryo's state of mind. He thought that his state of mind would hinder the mission because the last time something like this happened, Ryo barely managed to escape with his life.

"Garuda-sensei." Itachi called his sensei. "A word please." He said as he led his sensei away from his teammates.

"What is it Itachi-kun?" The Jonin asked. "Is it about Ryo-kun?"

"Yes sensei. The way he is now, he will only be a hindrance and there might be a chance that we'll fail the mission if his head isn't in the game." The Uchiha prodigy explained.

"I understand that Itachi-kun but Ryo-kun is yours and Hisana-chan's teammate. It is your responsibility to help him through this not just as teammates but as friends as well." He paused as he glanced over to Ryo. "He's a lot like you and at the same time he's the exact opposite but he needs your help Itachi. You and Hisana are the only people he can count on. Do the right thing." The Jonin advised. Itachi gave him a nod and the two joined the rest of the two members of Team 5.

Itachi thought about what he should say or do to get Ryo back to his senses and his superior intellect told him exactly what he needed to do. "Ryo." He spoke firmly commanding both Ryo's and Hisana's attention. "We are your friends and we must help each other when required."

"Itachi is right!" Hisana exclaimed. "Talk to us. Tell us what happened. You'll feel better."

Ryo but his lip but he finally caved in. "He kept me awake all night. Beat me up and made me feel like I am trash. That's pretty much it but it all depends who it comes from. My father said and did all those things and that just hurts even more."

"Then come and live with me for a while." Itachi offered. Only a second later did he realize that he actually said that. It was one of the few hundred suggestions he had for him but he had said it now. There was no turning back.

"Y-You really mean that?" Ryo asked in shock. Hell, even Garuda and Hisana were shocked at his sudden offer.

Itachi hesitated for a bit but then he took a deep breath. "Yes. You get along with Sasuke and my parents seem to like you."

"Thank you Itachi." Ryo said with a smile. His first smile of the day.

"I have an idea!" Hisana exclaimed. "You stay at Itachi-kun's house for as long as Itachi allows and then both of you can come and live at mine. My parents won't mind."

"Isn't that just an excuse for having Itachi over at your house?" Ryo asked bluntly only to be hit upside the head.

"Ow!" He groaned. "What was that for?!"

"You know exactly what!" Hisana growled. After a few moments Ryo exploded in laughter and this led to Hisana giggling. Even Garuda let out a chuckle whereas Itachi just smiled.

Itachi felt a little more at ease now because the positive flow of energy had returned to the team and Ryo was back to normal. This would ensure the mission's success.

Upon reaching the gate, they decided to step it up a notch. They began jumping from tree to tree hoping to reach the border within a couple of hours. They took short breaks from time to time to make sure no one was following them or keeping an eye on them.

"How far are we now?" Hisana asked as she jumped from tree to tree.

"The border should be in sight within a couple of minutes." Ryo replied.

"There it is." Itachi spoke coolly as he set his eyes on the border. He could see a few shinobi of his own village serving as a petrol squad.

"Halt!" The Jonin commanded. They set down next to a tree and waited for further commands. "Alright, here's the plan. We wait here and keep a close watch on the border and as soon as we see something suspicious, we call for backup. Having Kakashi-kun and Gai-kun on our side will be a huge bonus."

"Did someone mention our names?" A voice spoke from behind. Team 5 quickly turned their heads to see who came up to them without them noticing. Their eyes widened in surprise when they saw Kakashi and Gai standing in front of them. Even Itachi was somewhat surprised by their sudden appearance.

"Kakashi-kun! Gai-kun!" Garuda said casually as he gave the two a pat on the back. "What are you doing here? We didn't call for backup."

"Hokage-sama was starting to worry so he sent us early." Kakashi replied as his eyes travelled over to the young shinobis. "Are these your students?"

"Yeah. Introduce yourselves." He commanded his Chuunin students.

"My name is Uchiha Hisana." Hisana said respectfully as she bowed to them.

"My name is Uchiha Ryo." Ryo said unenthusiastically as he too bowed to them.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi." Itachi said emotionlessly. He was too lost in thought about their sudden appearance that he forgot to bow to them. Ryo elbowed his ribs to make him aware of his surroundings and then he finally bowed to them.

"Let's get to business shall we?" Garuda said as he laid down a map. "We need to watch over three areas of the border; the middle, the right and the left and for that we need to split in groups of two. Itachi-kun and I will monitor the middle part. Ryo-kun and Kakashi-kun will take the left and Hisana-chan and Gai-kun will take the right. Any questions?"

"How did you two get here so fast?" Itachi asked. This made Hisana and Ryo look at the two Jonin with a quizzical expression.

"We left just after you did." Gai replied.

"Could we just focus on the mission?" Kakashi snapped.

"Very well. Move out team!" He ordered and with that, each of the two man cell went their own way.

Itachi's attention was still on the two Jonin that had come from the village. He knew something was wrong but he just couldn't put his finger on it and another thing was on his mind, how did they not know who he was? He never bragged about his identity but the name and face of Uchiha Itachi was famous. So how could two powerful and famous Jonins not know who they were?

"Something on your mind Itachi-kun?" Garuda asked.

"Does something not seem odd to you sensei? About their sudden appearance I mean."

"I don't know what you're talking about Itachi-kun." His sensei chuckled."You must be worried but don't worry. We'll get through this." Itachi raised an eyebrow at his comment, he wouldn't take anything so lightly and it was Itachi saying this to his sensei and Garuda would never take Itachi's words lightly.

Just then a dog appeared in front of the two. A dog which Itachi was familiar to. "You're Pakkun aren't you?" Itachi spoke. "You're Kakashi-sensei's summoning. Does he have any news for us?"

"What are you talking about boy?" The dog grunted. "I came from the village."

"Village? But why were you in the village? Aren't you supposed to be here?" Itachi asked as things weren't adding up.

"Why would I be here? Kakashi sent me here from the village to check up on you guys and he also said to tell me if anything's up so I can go back to the village and tell him and Gai." The summoned dog explained.

"Wait!" Itachi exclaimed. "If Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei are still in the village then-" He was interrupted in mid speech by a kunai blade flying towards him with immense speed. He managed to dodge it at the last second thanks to his Sharingan.

"It all makes sense now." Itachi said with a hint of worry in his tone. "You're not who you are and neither are they."

"_Hisana-chan and Ryo are in trouble. I hope they've figured it out by now." _Itachi thought to himself.

"W-What is going on?" Pakkun asked in disbelief.

"Call for backup immediately!" Itachi ordered and Pakkun nodded quickly and vanished from sight.

"You'll be dead before they get here." Garuda smirked.

"You're the Hidden Rain Shinobis we were after." Itachi said emotionlessly

"That is correct." He said as he changed with a poof into his Hidden Rain getup. "You and all of your friends will die here." He said maliciously as he jumped at Itachi.

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A.N: Leaving it at a cliffhanger because I am that evil. I hope this was worth the wait because things will be getting interesting around here. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed and please review if you did and even if you didn't, still leave a review telling me where to improve.

Xchrispx510: Thank you for your review. Itachi and Minato are my favorite characters and I just had to make a fic about either one of them.


	3. Chapter 3

Before It All Began

A.N: The plot is going along nicely and I'll make more drama about Itachi and his lover but that'll be in the future chapters. I hope you guys enjoy and please review and let me know what you think. Also, PM me any suggestions if you have any.

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Chapter 3

Itachi's eyes travelled over to the ninja's forehead protector. It had a horizontal scratch through their Hidden Rain insignia. Itachi narrowed his eyes at the Rain shinobi and then a thought went through his head, where was his sensei?

"Your eyes tell me that you're wondering where your dear Jonin sensei is, right?" The missing-nin shot the Uchiha prodigy a smirk. Itachi stayed silent and waited for the missing-nin to continue talking. "We intercepted him just before your little mission and we managed to capture him and let me tell you something, it wasn't easy." He growled. "Capturing Garuda of the Spikes was no easy task but killing him was out of the question. The rumors about his skin being impenetrable were all true."

Itachi wasn't too worried about his sensei. The Spike user was tougher than he looked, but Itachi knew that Garuda was indeed penetrable. It was only a matter of time before Garuda's chakra reserves would hit rock bottom and when they did, his skin would penetrable.

"Got nothing to say Uchiha?" The missing-nin smirked but he was, again, met by silence. He growled at the Uchiha prodigy and shot himself at him with a kunai in his hand. To his surprise, he was able to stab the Uchiha boy and he was sure that he was not a clone because he saw blood coming from the place where he stabbed him and he also saw blood seeping out of his mouth.

"That was easier than I thought it would be." The missing-nin smirked to himself. He retracted his kunai and threw the body across the woods. Just then he felt an unbearable sting on his stomach. That sting grew into something worse and it was killing him. "W-W-What is going o-o-on?" He gasped as he spat blood into his hands.

"You're a fool." Itachi's voice echoed. The missing-nin jerked up his head to find the Uchiha boy but he saw no one. The woods disappeared and they were replaced by a pitch black dimension. "If you thought you could single handedly defeat an Uchiha, then you're dumber than you look." The Uchiha prodigy spoke.

"A genjutsu?" The missing-nin gasped.

"Now die." Itachi spoke as the black dimensional pocket crushed the missing-nin.

Itachi pulled his kunai at out of the missing-nin's abdomen and set the barely alive shinobi aside. He could sense his teammates approaching him and he quickly took out a scroll in order to seal the body.

Ryo and Hisana landed next to their teammate and took a sigh of relief to see that he was alright. "Glad you figured it out Itachi." Ryo spoke as he studied the undead shinobi. "We figured it out the moment they drew their kunais.

"You didn't kill him Itachi-kun?" Hisana asked as she scanned Itachi's body for injuries. She was relieved to find out that there were none.

"I will hand him over to Ibiki-san for interrogation." Itachi replied as he began to seal the body into the scroll.

"Will they get him to talk? Hisana asked.

"They'll get him to sing." Ryo smirked. "Where's Garuda-sensei?"

"Garuda-sensei was captured by the enemy before the mission even started. The person with me was not Garuda-sensei. He was just another missing-nin. I'll send a messenger crow back to the village and it'll come back to us within a couple of hours with the intel we need to find him." Itachi explained. "What happened to the bodies of your opponents?"

"I kind of incinerated mine." Ryo said as he scratched the side of his head. Itachi rolled his eyes in annoyance and then his eyes travelled over to Hisana, hoping she had spared his opponent.

"Forgive me Itachi-kun. I electrocuted my opponent." She said apologetically as she bowed her head.

"It's okay. It doesn't matter. This one will have to do." Itachi spoke as he summoned a crow. He gave the crow the scroll and said, "Deliver this to Hokage-sama and tell him that this is of utmost importance." He commanded. The crow squawked and flew away.

"Now we wait." Ryo said as he folded his arms. Just then the trio jerked their heads up as they sensed two powerful chakras approaching them. They jumped into their stances but eased at once when they saw Gai and Kakashi appear before them.

The trio bowed to them as a form of respect. Kakashi acknowledged them lazily while Gai give them a thumbs up with a glimpse of his sparkling teeth. "Report." Kakashi ordered.

Itachi took it upon himself to report as he knew the entire situation better than his teammates. "The enemy is indeed here Kakashi-san. They managed to capture Garuda-sensei but how they did so, we don't know. There were three hostiles and they shape shifted into yours, Gai-san's and Garuda-sensei's appearance. We managed to defeat them and we managed to keep one of them alive. I took the liberty of sealing him into a scroll and send him to Ibiki-san for interrogation and as soon as they get any leads on Garuda-sensei's whereabouts, they'll send us the intel we need to find him." Itachi concluded.

The two Jonin were more than impressed with Itachi's report. He had done everything thoroughly and his methods were flawless. The rumors they had heard about Itachi Uchiha's brilliance were all legitimate and his teammates were also quite the shinobis for their age. They're all just 11, they've fully unlocked and mastered their Sharingan, mastered hundreds of jutsu of various elements, they were able to beat Jonin level shinobi and they were of the illustrious Uchiha clan. One could call them the perfect shinobi.

"Most impressive Itachi-kun." Kakashi remarked with his visible eye more open than usual.

"The power of youth burns intensely within you." Gai cheered as he gave him another thumbs up. Itachi gave the two a bow but he didn't want to take all the credit. His two teammates did well to find out the truth and defeat their enemies.

"Hisana-chan and Ryo did their fair share of fighting and intel gathering." Itachi said as he shot the two a faint smile.

"A job well done you three but the mission isn't over." Kakashi said with a little more serious tone. "Taking down Garuda-san must've been no easy task so the enemy must be really high in number or their commanding officer must be extremely powerful."

"What shall we do Kakashi-san?" Hisana asked. She worried for her sensei.

"We have some time to waste. Let's do some exercise." Gai suggested as he dropped to the ground and began doing pushups.

"Might as well." Kakashi said lazily as he took out a certain green book that he loved so much. He sat down on a small boulder and began reading away.

"Shouldn't we be doing something more productive?" Ryo asked.

"Ryo-kun is right. Shouldn't we try to find Garuda-sensei on our own?" Hisana added.

"No." Itachi spoke. "We don't really know if the enemy is around. We should count this as enemy territory. They can attack any time so we should all stay together and at one place to maximize our offense and defense." Itachi explained.

"I guess you're right." Ryo admitted with difficulty. Hisana merely giggled at his reaction towards Itachi's reaction.

This was the first time the three Chuunin had formally met Kakashi and Gai but they were more interested in the masked Jonin and his special power.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Hisana spoke getting his attention.

"Hm?" He replied with his eyes glued to his book.

"Do you find it difficult using the Sharingan?" She asked getting a quizzical look from the masked Jonin. "You don't have the stamina of an Uchiha so it must be more difficult for you."

"It is difficult but I can manage." He mused.

"Don't be modest Kakashi." Gai said as he jumped up to his feet after his hundredth pushup. "You have earned the title of, 'Copy Ninja Kakashi'." He gave him a thumbs up. Kakashi rolled his eyes lazily and shifted his gaze back to his book.

Itachi knew of the masked Jonin's title. Kakashi was an exceptional ninja and he remembered him being cold, silent and arrogant but all that changed when Uchiha Obito died. Itachi, Ryo and Hisana knew Obito very well. Obito was like an older brother to them all and they shared some fond memories with him. They occasionally saw Kakashi standing in front of his grave paying his respects to his friend.

A few hours had passed and the Chuunin engaged themselves in different activities. Itachi kept scanning the area for enemy traces and he was relieved to find none. Ryo took some Taijutsu lessons from the Taijutsu master himself. Hisana asked Kakashi a few tips regarding lightening Jutsu. Her second affinity, like Kakashi, was lightening and he was just the man to help her out.

All of their activities ceased immediately when they saw Itachi's crow return to them. Itachi held out his arm for the crow to land on. As expected, it carried a scroll. Itachi took the scroll off the crow and transported it back to its own domain. He quickly opened the scroll and read through contents of the scroll.

"Garuda-sensei's location is one mile west from here. He's held captive within a cave that is somewhat hidden." Itachi explained.

"Let us show them the power of our youth!" Gai took his mark to blast off. Kakashi closed his book and put it in his pocket.

Ryo and Hisana took a deep breath and began jumping from tree to tree. They moved as fast as they possibly could and finished the mile within a matter of minutes. They scanned the area for the cave the scroll told them about and thanks to his advanced Sharingan vision; Itachi found the cave and signaled the rest of his platoon to move in.

They moved in the cave silently and they were able to pick up Garuda's chakra signature but it was weak. They proceeded to with caution to the end of the cave where they saw Garuda tied up to a chair. Itachi halted them before they decided to rescue him. He scanned the cave for traps but to his relief, there were none. He gave Ryo a nod telling him to cut him free. Ryo dashed towards his sensei and cut him loose.

"Are you okay sensei?" Ryo asked with concern as he put his sensei's arm around his neck in order to help him up.

"I'll live." Garuda chuckled weakly. "Sneaky little bastards caught me off guard. There were too many of them and they managed to pin me down. I was able to reduce their numbers to thirty though."

"How many were there?" Hisana asked as she began tending his wounds.

"76. They left the cave a while ago but I have a feeling they're waiting right outside for us. That was their plan all along. They wanted to trap us in here and bombard us with their Jutsu." Garuda growled for a change.

"I have a plan." Kakashi said in a serious tone. The rest of the platoon huddled around him to hear his plan.

The Hidden Rain missing-nin waited patiently for the first sign of movement at the entrance of the cave. They started to get impatient so they decided to creep a little closer but that was something the Leaf shinobi were counting on. The cave spat four humongous fireballs at them that killed half of the missing-nin waiting outside to ambush them.

Gai sprang out of the cave screaming, "DYNAMIC ENTRY!" He managed to break several bones of his several targets. Then Garuda jumped out and sent metal spikes towards the missing-nin piercing them all. The rest of the platoon jumped ran out of the cave and began ending the rest of the missing-nin.

* * *

The six-man platoon eliminated all of their opponents and began making their way back to the village. No one was hurt except for Garuda and he required some medical attention. The missing-nin had roughened him up quite a bit when they captured him.

"Well kids." Their Jonin sensei said with a smile. "You did well. It's safe to presume that this mission has been turned into an A-Rank mission."

"Really?" Hisana and Ryo asked in unison with sparkles in their eyes.

"Most definitely." Kakashi said lazily. "You all did well."

Ryo threw a fist into the air and put his arm around Itachi's neck. "An A-Rank mission Itachi!" He exclaimed. Itachi shot him a look of annoyance but the cheerful Uchiha didn't care. Hisana decided to be part of their little celebration and she hesitantly took a hold of Itachi's hands. Itachi turned his head to see how red her cheeks were from merely holding his hand. He took a deep breath and decided to go with it. He gave his male teammate a nod and he firmly held his female teammate's hand without making eye contact. Hisana blushed profusely while Ryo just smiled.

"_It isn't so bad."_ Itachi thought to himself as a more visible smile appeared on his lips.

Garuda saw all this from the corner of his eyes and he was glad that his prodigy students were getting along well.

* * *

A.N: This is the end of chapter 3. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I am slowly making them get along better. Please tell me what you think with a review or PM. If you have criticisms, please mention them in your reviews or your PMs. Don't straight out give me flames because that will not help me improve. Please review and please take care.

Shinkoku: I am surprised you caught that. Yeah, that is him. Thank you for your review.


	4. Chapter 4

Before It All Began

**A.N: This story is getting some neat recognition. Okay maybe not that much but we already have more than 200 hits so that's good I guess. I am gonna tell you guys again, if you have any suggestions or questions, please leave your questions or suggestions in your reviews or you can send me a PM.**

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Chapter 4

Team 5 got back to the village and received a warm welcome from Sarutobi Hiruzen himself. He was glad to see them alive and well but in all honesty, the thought never occurred to him that they would fail this mission. Even if it got turned into an A-Rank mission.

He commended the six-man platoon on their success and paid them twice the amount that was promised to them. The Hokage also told them that Team 5 were going to be doing more A-Rank mission from now on and if they were lucky, some S-Ranks ranks would welcome the young team of Chuunin.

Kakashi and Gai helped Garuda to the hospital for a proper recovery leaving the three Chuunin to their own devices. They were ordered to go home and rest because they deserved it. The trio took a deep breath as they exited the Hokage's building.

"Look at me!" Ryo flashed the cash he received from the Hokage. "I am rich!"

"That amount would be able to buy all of us Ichiraku for five days straight." Itachi estimated the total cost.

"Let's keep this up and we'll get rich in no time!" Hisana exclaimed excitedly.

"Are you still coming over to our house?" Itachi asked his teammate.

"Who's going to whose house?" Everyone's favorite Uchiha asked from behind the trio.

"Shisui-san!" Hisana and Ryo exclaimed.

"Shisui." Itachi greeted normally.

"Hello there you three." The older Uchiha greeted them. "I heard about your success from Kakashi-san and Gai-san. I would've asked Garuda-sensei but he was a little busy being treated but good job nonetheless." The older Uchiha gave them an eye-smile. "So who's going to whose house?"

"Itachi invited me over to his house." Ryo replied.

"Oh really?" Shisui said with discontent. "Where's mine and poor Hisana-chan's invitation?"

Itachi shot him a look that told the older Uchiha to stop joking. Hisana merely giggled but the thought of staying over at Itachi's house was quite nice.

"I was only kidding." Shisui chuckled. "Why are you staying over at Itachi's house anyway, Ryo-kun?"

"Uh…well…" Ryo frowned. This wasn't one of his comfortable topics to talk about but the older Uchiha prodigy took the hint and decided not to press the matter.

"It doesn't matter. Have fun." He smiled. "I gotta go now. I have to report to Hokage-sama about my latest success." He smirked as he disappeared with a poof.

"Itachi…" Ryo began. Itachi met his depressed eyes and hinted him to speak. "Tell Shisui-san everything he needs to know later on. He's like an older brother to us all and he deserves to know and to answer your question, I'll be staying over."

"I will let him know." Itachi said sincerely.

"Enough with the sob stories!" Hisana said. "Do you mind if I come over to your house for a while, Itachi-kun?"

"Of course he does. Right Itachi?" Ryo joked.

"Of course not. Mother will be glad to see you." Itachi replied. Hisana smirked inside of her head with delight.

"First we have to get my stuff though." Ryo said. "Thankfully he's not at home." He continued as he referred to his father.

"Where did he go?" Hisana asked wondering if it was her place to ask him such a delicate question.

"Irrelevant. Let's just go to your house and get out of there as fast as we can." Itachi gave the final word. His teammates gave him a nod and they decided to run for it.

They reached Ryo's house in no time at all. Ryo quickly entered his room through the window his father left open. He quickly packed a few change of clothes and other necessary supplies such as his toothbrush and a few books.

"It was really nice of you to let Ryo-kun stay over." Hisana gave Itachi a smile.

"It was necessary to set his head straight." Itachi said hiding his true intentions. He really did care but he wasn't one to admit his feelings. Hisana gave him a smile because she knew that he only wanted the best.

Ryo jumped out of the window after a couple of long minutes of nervousness. The whole of Team 5 wished that Uchiha Satoshi wouldn't make his untimely return.

"Do you have all your things?" Hisana asked. Ryo gave her a nod and the Chuunin of Team 5 began galloping away to the biggest house of the Uchiha residence.

They entered the household and Itachi went on to open the door for them. Upon opening the door, Ryo and Hisana saw a shadowy blur tackle Itachi, almost throwing the Uchiha prodigy off his feet.

"Nii-san!" The most cheerful Uchiha clan member exclaimed as he hugged his brother as tightly as he could. Itachi gave his brother a genuine smile that he could only give to him.

"Hello Sasuke." Itachi greeted as he ruffled the young Uchiha's hair.

"Hey there Sasuke!" Ryo greeted cheerfully.

"Hello Sasuke-kun." Hisana greeted with a smile.

"Nii-san's friends are here too." He said as he gave them a respectful bow.

"Someone's learning etiquettes." Hisana praised him.

"You can thank me for that." Mikoto said with a faint smug look.

"Mikoto-sama!" Ryo and Hisana exclaimed as they gave her a bow.

"Oh stop with the formalities. Just call me Mikoto." Mikoto chuckled. "Itachi, your father is waiting for you in the lounge. He wants to know how your mission went and I am also very excited to hear about your success." Mikoto said in delight. She knew that he'd never failed a mission with his teammates and he wasn't going to start now. "You two are welcome too."

"What about me?" Sasuke asked innocently.

"Oh you're always welcome." Mikoto laughed as she picked Sasuke up and led Team 5 to the lounge.

There they saw Uchiha Fugaku sitting on the couch sipping on his evening tea. Team 5 gave him a respectful bow which was acknowledged by the head of the police force.

"I presume your mission was a success." Fugaku said.

"It was but it had complications." Itachi replied.

"Complications?" The Uchiha mother asked with concern.

"Our B-Rank mission got turned into an A-Rank mission." Itachi answered. The Uchiha parents were surprised not only by the change of difficulty but also the fact that they succeeded.

"Details." Fugaku ordered.

Team 5 spent the next hour giving them every single detail of the mission. They were impressed but they were more relieved than anything else.

"Hokage-sama said that we'll be doing more of these. The amount of ease was laughable." Itachi said.

"Well done all of you." Fugaku gave them a rare praise.

"This calls for a celebration. I'll make something wonderful tonight and you two are welcome to join us. I would invite your sensei over too but he's in the hospital right now." Mikoto said as her eyes travelled over to Ryo's backpack. "What's in your backpack, Ryo-kun?"

"Oh…uh…"

"I invited Ryo to stay over here tonight." Itachi said as he came to his teammate's aid.

"That's fine." Mikoto smiled. "What about you Hisana-chan?"

"I…uh…"

"You'll be having dinner here and it'll get pretty late when we're done. Go ask your parents if you can stay over. We'll be more than happy to have you here." Fugaku gave the girl a rare smile.

"Yes sir. Thank you." Hisana gave them another bow.

"Take Ryo with you. A girl shouldn't be left alone at this time of the day." The head of the police force added. Ryo and Hisana and shot him a faint quizzical look because the sun was still up and Hisana's house was just a few minutes away. They shrugged off that thought and the two began making their way out.

"Why did you send Ryo with her?" Itachi asked. He knew his father well and he wouldn't order something so ridiculous.

"Ryo-kun's father. He is the reason you invited Ryo-kun over, correct?" His father asked.

"Yes."

"What did he do?" Mikoto asked.

"He beat him up and said inappropriate things to him." Itachi answered bluntly. A look of disgust appeared in their eyes. Fugaku, being who he was, had to do something about it. Ryo was an exceptional ninja, obviously not nearly as good as his son but he still deserved more than he was getting.

"I see. I'll think of something to resolve this problem." Fugaku said as he took another sip. "He'll probably come looking for him in the morning. I'll deal with him."

"Thank you father." Itachi said as he gave him a bow. "Please excuse me."

Itachi walked out of the lounge and retreated into his room. He took deep breath as he set Ryo's bag next to his bed. He took off his ninja gear and jumped into the shower.

After his shower, he put on a fresh change of clothes and went back downstairs to find Ryo and Hisana just entering the house.

"Hey Itachi! Ya mind if use your shower?" Ryo asked. Itachi gave him a nod and Ryo retreated into the bathroom.

"Where do I keep my things, Itachi-kun?" Hisana asked.

"Follow me." He said as he took some of her things. He led her to the guest room and gently put her stuff down next to the bed.

"Thank you Itachi-kun." She thanked him. Itachi merely gave her a nod and they walked out into the garden where they saw Sasuke working on his chakra control.

Like every other kid, he let out grunts and shouts whilst doing strenuous exercise. After sensing his brother's and Hisana's, presence and he decided to step up his game. The two found this adorable. He truly wanted to be the best shinobi ever.

Hisana shifted her gaze to Itachi who was smiling at Sasuke. She would hardly ever see this smile and when she did, she felt happy.

"What is the source of that smile?" Hisana asked even if she knew the answer.

"My brother." Itachi said without shifting his gaze from his little brother.

"Why is he the source of that smile?" Hisana asked.

"Because he means everything to me." Itachi replied instantly.

"Are there others who mean a lot to you?"

"Why are you asking me these questions?"

"It's no secret that I like you, Itachi-kun. You don't consider me very important, do you?" Hisana smiled weakly.

"I consider you an important comrade." Itachi said a little hesitantly. Never had he been put in such a situation where he had to answer to a girl then and there.

"Just an important comrade?" She asked with puppy eyes.

"I…You…" Itachi spoke hesitantly as a bead of sweat made its way down his forehead. She then dropped her puppy eyes and giggled. Itachi widened his eyes with a quizzical expression. _"Just what is she thinking?" _He wondered.

"That's okay Itachi-kun." She smiled. "One day, you'll consider me more than just an important comrade." She paused. "Just promise me one thing."

"What is it?" He asked with a different expression. Even geniuses would reach their boundaries at some point.

"Always remember who your real friends are."

Itachi didn't really know how to respond to that. What did it mean anyway? Maybe she said that because he never used to talk about things that would bother him. Let alone _if _things bothered him.

"Thank you Hisana-chan. I will remember." Itachi said almost sincerely. She gave him a smile and walked over to Sasuke to give him some tips.

"I heard your conversation with Hisana-chan." Ryo said from behind commanding his teammate's attention. "Itachi, I have a question for you."

Itachi shifted his gaze telling Ryo to go on. "Do you consider us your friends?" He asked as he shot his friend a more serious look.

"I do." Itachi replied instantly.

"Do you mean that?"

"Yes." Itachi replied. No matter how cold he looked or acted towards his teammates, he considered them his friends and there was no denying that.

"Thanks Itachi."

"I have one question for you." Itachi asked surprising the other Uchiha prodigy.

"What is it?"

"Why did you ask me that question?" Itachi asked.

"Well you see…" He paused as he shifted his gaze to a giggling Hisana and Sasuke. "I don't have many friends. That's mainly because of my father's reputation." He frowned. "The only people I can call my friends are you, Hisana-chan, Shisui-san and even your little brother. I don't have anyone else. I do have Garuda-sensei but he's kinda old."

"Thank you for sharing that with me." Itachi said as he gave him a smile.

"Anytime. So…" Ryo said as he shot him a cheeky look. "What's going on between you and Hisana-chan?"

Itachi shot him a stiff look but then he took a deep breath. "Nothing."

"Are you sure?" Ryo poked him.

"Positive."

"Will there be something going on in the future?"

"I d-don't know." Itachi replied hesitantly.

"Looks like I have something to tell to a certain someone." Ryo got up from the ledge but Itachi pulled him back down.

"Don't tell her anything!" He snarled.

"Easy there Itachi." Ryo chuckled. Itachi regained his composure and took another deep breath.

"Dinner is ready kids!" Mikoto called from inside. Sasuke was the first one to enter the house thanks to his unlimited kid energy.

Itachi, Ryo and Hisana followed the hyperactive Uchiha boy inside the house.

"_Maybe…Just maybe…I need my friends." _Itachi thought to himself with a faint smile.

* * *

**A.N: This is it for chapter 4. I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please review and please take care.**


	5. Chapter 5

Before It All Began

**A.N: Hey guys! I am back. Sorry it took so long. I came back home day before yesterday and I needed some time to get my routine straight. I was in London to visit some relatives so yeah. Here's chapter 5 and I really hope that you like the story so far. Show that review button some love and leave a review. Criticism or not, it doesn't matter. I just want to know what you guys think.**

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Chapter 5

Itachi is and always was an early bird. He was up before everyone else. He got up from his bed and glanced over at the clock on his bedside table. It was 06:30 AM and it was a Sunday. Itachi thought that he should get some more sleep because he was kept awake late by his two teammates and hyperactive little brother the night before.

He shrugged off his urge to get more sleep and began walking towards to the bathroom. He had almost forgotten that Ryo slept in the same room he did and this almost led him to step on the ninja's face. Ryo slept deeply on a mattress that the Uchiha mother offered.

Itachi took a sigh of relief and opened the door that led him out of his room. Usually, nothing would bother him in the morning but something did today. Two things actually. One, he had the urge to check on Hisana to see if she was sleeping. It wasn't an urge, he thought. It would just make him feel better.

He reached the guest room and peeped inside to find his female teammate sleeping like a baby. _"She must be tired." _He thought. Heck, he was too.

The second thing that bothered him was Ryo's father. He would surely make a scene if he finds his son not at home. Not that he cares anyway. He also passed his brother's room and decided to check on him too. He walked into his room and found his brother snoring silently. A smiled curled into his lips as he saw his brother wrestling with his pillow in his sleep. With a content mindset, he began walking towards where he originally intended to go; the bathroom.

After brushing his teeth and taking his morning shower, Itachi made his way to the garden. Usually he would eat something by 07:00 AM as his mother would already be making breakfast but today was Sunday, he had to wait about two more hours for that.

He walked out to the garden for a little stroll. It was quiet but peaceful. The chirping of the birds and the rustling of the trees. Those were the sounds of peace. Peace that Itachi swore to protect. His thought was interrupted by lazy footsteps. He looked to his side and saw his younger brother walking towards him while rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning Sasuke." Itachi said as he gave his brother a hug.

"Morning nii-san." The pampered Uchiha spoke.

"Go back to sleep Sasuke. You're still sleepy." Itachi commanded. Sasuke nodded drowsily and went back inside the house. Itachi resumed his gaze at the garden but he was again interrupted by footsteps. He saw Hisana approaching him with a yawn.

"Good morning Itachi-kun." She smiled.

"Good morning Hisana-chan. Why are you up so early?" Itachi asked.

"I could ask you the same thing." She chuckled as she sat down next to him.

"I usually wake up at this time." Itachi replied.

"I woke up because I thought you'd be awake." She said as blood rose up to her cheeks. Itachi smiled faintly at her but it vanished quickly when she began moving closer to him.

"Hisana-chan…" Itachi spoke.

"S-Sorry." She said apologetically. "What are we going to do today?"

"We?"

"Yes. We."

Itachi took a sigh because he knew that he had no other choice but to go wherever they were going. If he found a way to turn her down, Ryo would tell him off. Even if he shrugged him off, he would have to deal with his mother.

"We should go visit Garuda-sensei at the hospital. He would be wanting to see us." Itachi suggested.

"Great idea." Hisana replied. "We should go after breakfast."

Itachi merely nodded and waited for the rest of the household to wake up. Ryo joined his teammates soon after and they began talking about random things. It was mostly Hisana and Ryo in the conversation. Itachi occasionally threw in a few comments but remained silent for most of their waiting hours.

* * *

Finally, the Uchiha mother awoke and made breakfast for everyone in the house. After quickly finishing their breakfast, the trio departed from the house.

They were on their way to the hospital when they once again saw the vessel of the demon fox being shunned by the villagers.

"Such a pitiful display of immatureness." Ryo spat.

"He's just a boy." Hisana added.

"The village should be thanking him. He's one of the reasons the village survived the Kyuubi's attack. He doesn't even know why the village hates him." Itachi said emotionlessly.

"We're just eleven and even we can tell that there's something wrong here!" Ryo said as he threw his arms in the air. Just then, one of the villagers was about to throw a stone on the blonde boy but the trio were quick to react and snatched the boy away from the scene faster than the villagers could see.

They put the bewildered boy down next to Ichiraku Ramen. His blue eyes searched for his saviors but they were nowhere to be found. Instead, he found a coupon for free ramen. Naruto immediately forgot about everything else and so he picked up the coupon and ran into Ichiraku Ramen.

"That was very kind of you Ryo-kun. Giving him that coupon will do him good." Hisana said.

"I have a small idea of what it feels like to be treated like trash. Not on the same level he does of course." Ryo frowned.

"You have friends and one day, he will have friends too." Itachi said. "Now let's get going."

"Wait!" Hisana halted her teammates. "Let's get some flowers for him from Yamanaka Flower Shop." She suggested. They gave her a nod and began making their detour towards the flower shop.

They jumped from building to building until they reached the most colorful shop in the whole of the Land of Fire. The building itself wasn't colorful, but the way it was decorated with flowers was mesmerizing. They dropped down in front of the shop and made their way inside to see the head of the Yamanaka clan.

"What do we have here? Three children from the Uchiha clan!" Inoichi said cheerfully.

"Good morning Inoichi-sama." The trio greeted with a respectful bow.

"No need to be so formal." He chuckled. "What can I do for you kids?"

"Can we have a bouquet of jasmines please?" Hisana requested.

"Of course." He said as he turned around. "Ino! Get me a bouquet of jasmines!"

"Yes daddy." A little girl's voice echoed from the back of the shop. After a few brief seconds, a short blonde haired girl ran into the front store. She handed her father the bouquet and ran back to the back of the store.

"Excuse my daughter's lack of manners." Inoichi said apologetically.

"That's okay. She's so cute." Hisana giggled as she traded the flowers for some money.

"Thank you very much." Inoichi smiled. Team 5 gave him a bow and resumed their mini journey to the hospital. It only took them a couple of minutes to reach the hospital. They could've been there sooner but Hisana insisted that they'd walk. She didn't want to ruin the bouquet.

They entered the hospital and walked over to the receptionist. The medical kunoichi, who was stationed at the reception, tore her eyes away from her paper work and looked up to greet the children of the Uchiha clan.

"What can I do for you three?" She asked with a friendly smile.

"We're here to see Garuda-sensei." Itachi spoke calmly.

"Oh yes. He's been talking about you three ever since he got admitted here. He's really proud of you three." She smiled. "He's in room 105."

The trio gave her a bow and made their way to room 105 which was comfortably close. They knocked on the door and walked inside to see a cheerful Satsui Garuda.

"Good morning sensei!" Hisana and Ryo cheered. Itachi gave him a bow and joined his teammates next to their injured sensei's bed.

"You finally came!" He smiled. "And Itachi, please stop being so formal."

Itachi took a deep breath and decided to start a conversation. "How long will it take for your injuries to heal sensei?" The Uchiha prodigy asked.

"How nice of you to ask Itachi-kun." Garuda chuckled. "All of my injuries have been healed. I can get out as soon as the nurse comes back with her full report."

"How was your stay sensei?" Hisana asked.

"It was fine. The food they have here is pitiful though." He chuckled.

"The staff will not take lightly of that comment." The nurse said as she came into the room.

"Forgive me Misa-san. Your hospitality is wonderful though." Garuda said apologetically to the nurse.

"I have your report right here and you're all clear for discharge." The nurse smiled. "You only suffered minor injuries and chakra exhaustion."

"That's a relief." Hisana said.

"Of course nothing's happened to you sensei!" Ryo exclaimed. "You're the Spike user!"

Even Itachi took a sigh of relief. Having an injured sensei on missions could be troublesome but having an injured companion could be troublesome just in general.

"Thank you my students. I am glad you are so concerned for me." Garuda said as he got up from his bed. "Now wait for me outside. I'll treat you all for some ramen." He said making Ryo and Hisana throw their fist into the air. Itachi let a faint smile curl into his lips and led his teammates out of the building.

"How come we don't wear Chuunin vests?" Ryo asked as he put his hands behind his head.

"I am not too sure." Hisana replied.

"My father arranged for special ones with an Uchiha crest on the back. We'll be wearing those." Itachi explained.

"That's awesome!" Ryo cheered but his celebration got cut short when someone grabbed his hair tightly from behind. "Ack!" He hissed. From the corner of his eyes he could see the man he hated most; his father.

"Where the hell were you last night?!" Uchiha Satoshi growled.

"I-I…" Ryo whimpered as he tried his best to escape his father's hold.

"Please let him go!" Hisana yelled as tried to pull his arm away.

"Get away from me you brat!" He growled as he raised his hand at her. Before his hand could reach her face, Itachi stepped in front of her hand caught the vulgar man's hand. His Sharingan blazing in his eyes and he had a less than friendly look.

"He was at my house yesterday. If you hurt any of us, you'll face charges directly from the Uchiha Police Force." Itachi threatened.

"You think I am scared of the police?!" Satoshi growled as he let go of his son and turned to Itachi.

"You should be. Don't make me hurt you." Itachi said.

"Why you!" He snapped as he raised his hand again but this time he was stopped by someone else and this person's grip was much tighter.

"You will not be harming any of my students." Garuda threatened with a killer look.

"You have no right to say what I can or cannot do to my son." Satoshi snarled.

"W-Wait! Everyone! Please stop." Ryo said as he stepped in between his father and his sensei. "I'll go with him. Please don't bother yourself with this." Ryo said with a shameful look. He didn't want them to get involved.

"Silence Ryo!" Itachi exclaimed. "We have been involved in this since day one. We are your friends and you must share your problems with us."

"He's right Ryo-kun!" Hisana said as she pulled her teammate towards herself and Itachi.

"Get back here you ungrateful brat!" Satoshi snarled.

"ENOUGH!" The head of the Uchiha Police Force growled.

"Fugaku! They're not letting me take my son." Satoshi said hoping that he would take his side.

"I know. You're not allowed to take your son home until further notice. He'll be staying wherever he wants to stay." Fugaku replied calmly.

"What?! Who on Earth do you think you are?!" Satoshi exclaimed.

"I am Uchiha Fugaku. Head of the Uchiha Police Force and this is a direct order from Hokage-sama." Fugaku said as his Sharingan flared in his eyes. "We have evidence of you abusing this child."

"What evidence?!" Satoshi snapped.

"We studied the scars that were on Ryo-kun's body while he was asleep." He said making the vulgar man stiffen in response. "We have deduced that those scars came from leather belts, more specifically, your leather belts. Leave at once." Fugaku warned. Satoshi gave them all a snarl and stormed off the scene.

"Thank you for your timely appearance Fugaku-san." Garuda smiled.

"Don't thank me Garuda-san. Thank Itachi. He told me to keep an eye on him and his teammates in case _he _made his appearance." He said as he gave his son a pat on his back. "Well done Itachi. How is your recovery going?" He asked his fellow Jonin.

"Back to a hundred percent." Garuda smiled.

"Well I have to get going now. You stay with your students until they get home and we'll keep an eye on Satoshi." Fugaku said as he vanished with a Body Flicker Jutsu.

"I am proud of you Itachi-kun. The way you stepped up for your teammates was truly remarkable." Garuda smiled.

"Thank you Itachi." Ryo said admittedly. He definitely felt as if Itachi was his best friend. "You two as well. I am so happy to be on the same team as you guys."

"Don't sweat it." Hisana giggled as she punched his arm.

"We are your friends." Itachi said coolly. Those four words meant so much to everyone on the team.

"Now let's not be all touchy. We still have some ramen to eat!" Team 5's sensei cheered as he led his team of Chuunin to Ichiraku Ramen.

"_I did the right thing."_ Itachi thought to himself with a content smile.

* * *

**A.N: This is it for chapter 5. I hope you guys liked it. I am currently running low on ideas right now so if you guys have any suggestions, please leave em in your reviews or you can PM me.**

**Tirikio: Thank you very much. Stay tuned.**

**Nashika. Tashika: My favorite characters of Naruto are Itachi and Minato. I just had to make a fic about Itachi. **


	6. Chapter 6

Before It All Began

A.N: Please do not kill me. I know I am late. A few months late but please don't be mad at me. I was just low on ideas and I wasn't sure what to do. I read all the chapters again and a few ideas presented themselves to me and now I am back. So here's chapter 6. Please enjoy and please review.

* * *

Chapter 6

Things had been going rather smoothly for Itachi and Team 5. Mission after mission. Success after success. Team 5 was highly praised by the Hokage and they soon became famous. They _were _Uchihas after all.

Right now, the Chuunin of Team 5 was enjoying lunch at Ichiraku Ramen. The trio respectfully ate their food but a few light comments from Ryo had Hisana chuckling and Itachi smiling.

"Teuchi-san?" Hisana chirped.

"Yes little lady?" The cook replied.

"Where's Ayame-chan?" She asked.

"Oh you know her. Whenever you three show, she splits!" He sighed. "It's difficult to work with her not around."

"You know Ryo-kun. You should go out with her." Hisana suggested.

"Why?" He asked with a clueless expression on his face.

"You're so clueless." Itachi stated.

"What was that teme?!" Ryo snapped.

"He's right Ryo-kun." Hisana scolded him. "She likes you and you should confront her about it."

"Please!" Teuchi exclaimed. "You'll be doing me a favor."

After a few moments of consideration. Ryo came to a conclusion. A conclusion Itachi wished he would've never come to. "Okay. I'll do it but under one condition." He smirked at his teammates.

Itachi kept his stoic expression as he didn't really care about his condition. Hisana turned to him and waited for him to go on.

"What is it?" She finally asked.

"You two have to go on a date." He said.

Itachi almost choked on his drink and Hisana almost fell out of her chair.

"WHAT KIND OF A CONDITION IS THAT?!" She snapped as blood rose up to her cheeks.

"We're just 10 Ryo." Itachi said with a glare.

"So? I am 10 too and you're asking me to go out with her!" He retaliated.

"B-But that's different!" She stuttered. Itachi narrowed his eyes at his teammates but then again, he had a point.

"What's it going to be?" Ryo smirked.

Hisana was totally against this and she believed Itachi was too. How could Ryo come up with such a thing? Didn't he know that Itachi would never agree to this?

"We can make it a double date too if that's okay." Ryo suggested.

"You're actually serious about this?" Itachi scowled.

"Sure I am!" Ryo smiled.

"But-" Hisana stuttered.

"I don't know why you're so against this." Ryo said as he raised an eyebrow. "You like Itachi!"

Itachi was also slightly puzzled about this. She did like him yet she was reluctant to go out with him. Why was that? What was stopping her?

"I know but I don't want to conditionally go on a date with Itachi." She sighed. "I want to go on a date with him when we're not bound by any conditions. I want to go when we're both willing and we _both _like each other."

Itachi wasn't sure about this. What feelings did he have for her? How the hell was he supposed to know? He was just 10! If his mother were to find out that he turned Hisana of all people down, she would be less than pleased with him.

"You're turning down my offer?" Ryo said with a grin. Of course he expected this. He was going to meet with Ayame anyway. He only said this for fun but what Itachi said next was something he had never expected.

"Hisana-chan. Let's do it." Itachi said calmly hoping the outcome would be positive.

"WHAT?!" Both of his team members exclaimed.

"I mean, you don't have to agree to his terms! Ryo is just being stupid!" She said.

"Hey…" Ryo said with a hint of hurt in his tone.

"Oh be quiet you!" She hissed.

"It's fine." Itachi said as he stood up from his chair. "I suggest we escort Ryo to Ayame-chan and then plan our…date." He said with great reluctance.

Both of them were speechless. They just didn't know what to say. They just nodded and stood up from their chairs. Teuchi watched everything with a delighted smile. _"Such wonderful children." _He thought to himself.

"You'll find Ayame-chan in the park right outside the Uchiha complex." He said earning quizzical looks from two Uchihas. Itachi understood why she was there. "She likes to play there because she hopes that you might walk by sometime." He said as he smiled at Ryo.

"Thank you Teuchi-san." Itachi said as he gave him a bow. His teammates followed his lead and bowed down to him too.

They left the ramen shop and headed over to the park where Ryo's date waited for them.

* * *

Ayame was walking around in the park – wondering what flowers she should pick for her father. She had no shame in saying that she was daddy's little girl. She saw a pretty red rose and decided to add it to her collection of flowers that she was going to give her father but before she could touch the flower, a boot stepped on the flower with enough force to completely crush it.

Ayame jumped and fell backwards. Tears threatened to escape her eyes when the boot lifted up from the ground revealing the destroyed petals. She looked up to see three boys with evil smirks on their faces – bullies. They were older than her. They were in their early teens and had forehead protectors tied around their heads. They had short untidy hair and wore the same clothing which consisted of black pants and brown long sleeved shirts and all three of them had weapon pouches strapped around their thighs.

"What do we have here?" The one in the middle spoke.

"A weakling." The one his left snorted.

"Not to mention a weak girl." The one on the right added.

"G-Get away from me you bullies!" She squealed as she tried to run away with her flowers. Their leader who had the ugliest face, through her eyes, cut her off.

"You're not going anywhere." He spat. "Surround her." He ordered his accomplices and they did as they were told – one on her diagonal left and the other on her diagonal right.

"W-What do y-you want?" Her being scared was an understatement. She was frightened!

Their leader ignored her and looked at her hands. She was holding a few flowers. He smirked and snatched them out of her hands.

"Give them back!" She tried to get them back but she was pushed back to the ground. The leader smirked evilly at her and tore the flowers in half.

Tears began streaming down her face. She had never seen such cruelty. "Why are you doing this?" She sobbed.

"Because it's fun." He smirked evilly.

She growled at him – immediately forgetting her fear and punched him which did no damage to the Genin.

"Stupid brat!" He hissed as he raised his arm to strike her. She closed her eyes and waited for his hand to make contact with her face but his hand never came.

She slowly opened her eyes to see Ryo, of all people, holding the Genin's hand in a vice grip.

"Why you!" His teammate spat as he rushed to his aid but he was kicked on the face by Hisana – knocking him out in the process. Itachi appeared behind the third and backhanded him, making him lose consciousness.

"What did you do to them?!" The leader spat.

"The same thing I am going to do to you." Ryo said with his killing intent to the maximum.

"P-P-Please! D-Don't hurt me!" The Genin pleaded but it was too late. Ryo had put him in a genjutsu and he dropped to the ground unconscious.

Ayame watched everything with shock. She still hadn't processed the scene and she was at a loss for words.

"Are you okay Ayame-chan?" Hisana was the first to break the silence.

"I…they…my flowers…" She sobbed. Itachi nudged Ryo on his shoulder.

"What?" Ryo whispered.

Itachi sighed at his cluelessness and said, "That's your cue."

"Oh right." He whispered back. "Don't worry about it Ayame-chan." He smiled at her making her look up to him. He was a good two inches taller than her. "I'll buy you flowers from the Yamanaka flower shop."

"R-REALLY?!" She squealed.

"Sure he will!" Hisana giggled. "But we're here for a reason."

"Yeah…uh…well…you see…" Ryo shuffled. For once he was kind of nervous. He didn't know what to say.

"Ryo wants to take you out on a date." Itachi said plainly.

"TEME!" Ryo spat.

"Really?" She gasped in disbelief.

"That's correct. It'll be a double date." Hisana said uneasily as she felt blood rising up to her cheeks. "It'll be Itachi and I and you and Ryo."

At this point, all of Ayame's tears vanished and there was a glow in her eyes. She giggled loudly as she hugged the life out of Ryo.

"My prince charming came to save me and now he's asking me out!" She squealed as she rubbed her face on his chest.

"Prince…charming?" He replied quizzically.

"I suggest that you go home and freshen up. We'll pick you up in a while." Itachi said with his usual stoic expression.

She nodded and vigorously and ran off while yelling, "I'll see you tonight my prince!"

Ryo heard Hisana giggle and saw an amused smile on Itachi's face. "I hate you. I hate you both." He scowled.

"Oh come on Ryo. She's such a sweet girl." Hisana giggled.

"She does seem to like you a lot." Itachi added.

"I guess. What shall we do with them?" He asked as he eyed the unconscious Genin on the ground.

"Leave them to me." A familiar voice spoke from behind.

Itachi knew who it was even before he dropped down from the tree. Ryo and Hisana turned around to see their sensei smiling down at them.

"I saw everything and I am proud of you three. These Genin will be dealt with by their Jonin sensei." He said as he picked the three up. "Have fun on your dates today." He gave them a smirk.

Hisana and Ryo blushed while Itachi kept a stoic expression. "I hate you too sensei." Ryo spat.

* * *

Itachi and Ryo had finished getting dressed for the occasion and were on their way out when they saw Uchiha Mikoto in walking toward them in the hallway.

"Ready for your dates?" She giggled.

"How did you know?!" Ryo asked in disbelief. Even Itachi wanted to know how she found out.

"Your sensei dropped by and told me." She replied.

"Ugh… Great. Just great." Ryo said as his shoulders dropped to the sight.

"So is this a onetime thing?" The Uchiha mother asked.

"That depends on how things turn out." Itachi replied surprising both his mother and his teammate.

"Do you like Ayame-chan?" She asked her son's best friend curiously.

"Uh… I think so. She's a nice girl." Ryo said unsurely.

"And what about you? Do you like Hisana-chan?" She asked her son.

"We're getting late." He said as he excused himself from the scene. Mikoto smiled at his reaction. She knew that Itachi didn't dislike Hisana.

"Nii-san!" Sasuke giggled as he latched onto his brother. Itachi smiled at his brother and patted his head. "Where are you going? Can I come too? Are you going to practice? Are you going on a mission? Are you-"

"Now now Sasuke." His mother said as she picked him. "Your brother is going on a date."

"With Ryo-nii?" He asked innocently making the Uchiha mother laugh uncontrollably.

"NO!" Both Itachi and Ryo said.

"Itachi is going with Hisana-chan and Ryo-kun is going with Ayame-chan." The Uchiha mother said. "You two better get going. You don't want to keep em waiting."

The boys gave her a tired nod and walked over to Hisana's house. She was already waiting outside and she looked very pretty. She wore a black full sleeved shirt and a white skirt.

"You look pretty Hisana-chan." Ryo said with a smile.

"Thank you Ryo-kun." She smiled at him and turned to Itachi who was also somewhat lost in her beauty. "What do you think Itachi-kun?"

Itachi hesitated for a moment and decided that he didn't need to answer. He just turned around and began walking. Ryo gave him a growl while the light in Hisana's eyes dimmed. Itachi noticed this and sighed.

"You look good." He said. The light returned to her eyes and she latched onto his arm. Itachi was slightly surprised by this action but he decided to go with it. It wasn't bad. Ryo smiled at the couple. This is what he had wanted for a long time.

"Thank you Itachi." She whispered as she squeezed his arm.

* * *

The trio arrived at Ichiraku Ramen to find Ayame waiting outside for her _prince. _As soon as she saw Ryo, she ran up to him and embraced him in a hug.

"You're here!" She squealed.

"Yup. I am here." He smiled.

"Hello Ayame-chan." Hisana greeted.

"Hey Hisana-chan." She smiled. "Hello Itachi-kun." The prodigy gave her a nod of acknowledgement and the trio began walking around town.

"Ryo-kun?" Ayame said shyly.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Put your hands in your pockets like Itachi-kun." She said.

"Why?" He asked with a quizzical expression. Itachi and Hisana were also wondering why she would suggest such a thing.

"It'll make you look cooler." She said smiled and Ryo complied with a smile.

"Of course." He replied as he put his hands in his pockets and she encircled her arms around one of his hands.

* * *

They first stopped at a dango shop and then an arcade and then finally they returned to Ichiraku Ramen for dinner. As promised, Ryo bought a bouquet for Ayame and he insisted that Itachi should do the same which he did after some reluctance.

"I hope you kids are having fun." Teuchi said as he saw them walk in.

"Yes we are daddy." Ayame giggled.

"I am glad to hear that. So what do you guys want? It's on the house for today." He smiled

Night had fallen and the three Uchiha's were on their way back home. Ayame was reluctant to let Ryo go but she did in the end. Turns out that she really liked him and he found himself liking her too.

Itachi was unclear about his relationship with Hisana. Was this a onetime thing after all or…he just didn't know. He wasn't sure. He glanced on his right where he saw Hisana staring at the full moon. Her arms were still around one of his. She really liked him without a doubt but did he like her? Was he afraid to admit that he had feelings? How hard could it be to tell Hisana that he liked her? Wait what? He liked her? Uchiha Itachi liked her? Uchiha Itachi had feelings for someone?

He was snapped back to reality when he sensed someone approach them with high speeds. He turned around preparing himself for action. Ryo and Hisana picked it up when Itachi turned around.

They turned around to three Anbu members. The one in the middle walked up to Itachi and took of his mask. It was Hatake Kakashi.

"Kakashi-san!" Ryo and Hisana said in unison.

"It's good to see you three again." He said lazily.

"What brings you here?" Itachi asked. He knew that Kakashi would never approach them with three Anbu members with him unless it was important.

He cleared his throat and said, "Uchiha Itachi. Uchiha Ryo. Uchiha Hisana. Hokage-sama demands your presence." He said formally.

This could mean trouble.

* * *

A.N: This is it for chapter 6. What could Kakashi possibly want? Find out in the next chapter. I hope you liked it. Please review and tell me what you think. Next update should be up next week. I am not making any promises.


	7. Chapter 7

Before It All Began

A.N: Hey guys! I am back as promised. I hope you guys like how the story is progressing. The massacre part is a few chapters away. Yes there will be a massacre. Don't hit me. Anyway, here's the chapter. Please enjoy and please review.

Chapter 7

* * *

The trio followed the Anbu silently. It was under the Hokage's order after all. Kakashi didn't even say why the Hokage demanded their presence and they couldn't figure out why he was being so formal about it. Was it something serious? Just what was it?

Itachi didn't pay much attention to it. He thought that it was either a new mission or a promotion to Jonin. He knew that he was already Jonin material but he wasn't too sure about his teammates. They were exceptional ninja at their age but they weren't Jonin level yet but as for the prodigy, he was.

But the fact still stands that the Hokage demanded the presence of all three Chuunin, not just Itachi.

"_Could he be wanting to promote us to Anbu?" _He asked himself. _"It is highly likely. All three of us are very stealthy and we're great for reconnaissance mission thanks to our Sharingan." _Itachi added mentally. That had to be it. He was sure of it.

When he had concluded his mental assessment of the situation, he found himself along with his teammates in front of the Hokage's office. Kakashi knocked the door and waited for a reply.

"Enter." The Hokage said from the other side of the door. Kakashi opened the door and signaled the other two Anbu two leave and they were gone within a second.

"Come." Kakashi said as he led the trio inside. The trio walked inside to confront the Hokage. As usual, he was sitting on his chair with a pile of paperwork in front of him. There was a pipe in his mouth and as they entered, he took it out and put it aside but he wasn't alone. His _advisors _were there too. All three of them. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu stood on his right while Shimura Danzo stood on his left.

He took a tired sigh and eyed Team 5 and Kakashi. Said Team gave him a respectful bow.

"At ease." He smiled.

"Why have you summoned us Hokage-sama?" Hisana asked.

"Talk only when you're spoken to." Koharu hissed making Hisana bow her head.

"She only asked a question." Ryo defended her.

"Does the Uchiha not teach their young ones any manners?" Homura grunted.

"Oi Oi. Let's not turn this meeting into a verbal brawl." Kakashi said lazily.

"Kakashi is right." The Hokage said as he gave his two advisors a faint growl. They huffed but remained silent. "It is okay to ask questions Hisana-chan." The Hokage smiled.

"T-Thank you Hokage-sama." She smiled back.

"Now then. You three must be wondering why you're here so let's get to the point." Sarutobi paused. "We are running low on Anbu and we need new and powerful recruits and I think you three are perfect for the job." The Hokage said.

Itachi was right.

Ryo and Hisana couldn't believe it. They were going to be promoted to Anbu! Itachi, however, had anticipated it. He should have a talk with his teammates about their intellectual abilities.

"But of course, the choice is yours." The Hokage added. "Your wages will be increased and you'll be getting a lot of benefits. Being Anbu has its perks." He chuckled. "But you'll get less time for your personal life but all that depends on how quickly you finish your missions and how effective you are."

The Chuunin didn't need to think to answer. It benefitted Itachi so he could be a higher authority figure. He needed to be that to bring about peace. It was beneficial for Hisana so she could keep up with Itachi and Ryo and develop her relationship with Itachi. It was beneficial for Ryo so he could live his own life and stay away from his father.

"I speak for the three of us when I say we all agree to become Anbu." Ryo said confidently.

"Excellent. For now, the three of you will work on the same platoon but as you progress, you will work with others." The Hokage said clearly. "Hatake Kakashi will be your instructor but he will be nothing like Satsui Garuda. He'll just be your leader and that is all."

"It'll be fun to work with you three again." Kakashi smiled behind his mask.

"I have a request Hokage-sama." Ryo said uneasily.

"What is it Ryo-kun?" The Hokage asked.

"If it isn't too much…could you find me an apartment to stay in? It doesn't have to be in the Uchiha complex. I don't want to be a burden on Itachi's family for too long." He said as he scratched the back of his head.

"_Idiot." _Itachi thought to himself. He was never a burden.

"That can be arranged but it might take some time." The Hokage said with a slight pause. "But for now, you must live with either Itachi-kun or Hisana-chan."

"Thank you." Ryo bowed to him but then he heard something that made him mad. Hell, even his team, Kakashi and the Hokage were angered by this comment.

"Pitiful." Danzo spat. "Like father like son. Both cowards."

"I am nothing like my father." Ryo spat with a lot of venom. He didn't care who he was talking to.

"You're both a disgrace to the village and your clan. Outcasts."

"You're speaking out of line." Itachi said surprising everyone. The one who hadn't said anything during the entire meeting decided to speak up now. "You know nothing about Ryo. You shouldn't talk about things you have no knowledge of." He said coolly.

"And I suppose you do." Danzo said distastefully.

"We both do." Hisana said ignoring the fear of speaking against one of the elders.

"What brats." Koharo said.

"That's enough!" The Hokage snapped. "Kakashi. Escort Team 5 back to the Uchiha complex."

Kakashi nodded and escorted, a somewhat reluctant, Team 5 out of the building.

* * *

"Who does he think he is?!" Hisana snapped.

"I hate those geezers. Hokage-sama is cool but the rest suck." Ryo added.

"Fools…" Itachi said under his breath. He didn't like them either.

"Oi oi. You don't want anyone to hear you, do you?" Kakashi said as he shifted his gaze from his little green book to the kids.

"I don't care. I was so tempted to put them in a genjutsu." Ryo hissed.

"You could go to prison for that." Itachi mused. He was somewhat amused by this conversation.

"It'll be worth it." Ryo smirked.

"When is our first mission Kakashi-san?" Hisana asked trying to forget her anger.

"Dunno." Kakashi replied blankly. "Probably next week. I heard something about one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist causing trouble not too far from the village. We have sent a squad to intercept him but they haven't reported back yet."

"Are you saying that we'll get that mission?" Itachi asked. He never anticipated that taking out one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist would be their mission.

"Who knows?" Kakashi said lazily. "Well here we are." Kakashi stopped right in front of the gates of the complex.

"Thank you Kakashi-san." Ryo and Hisana said in unison. Itachi gave him a faint nod.

"See you guys later and there's something I should tell you." Kakashi said as he put his book away. "Don't pay attention to those old geezers. You three are spectacular kids." Kakashi smiled behind his mask. He disappeared in a poof leaving the three to their own devices.

"What now?" Ryo said.

"You two are going to be staying over at my house today. We've been at Itachi's for a long time now it's my turn." Hisana suggested.

"Sounds cool to me." Ryo said happily.

Itachi gave her a reluctant nod. Not that he didn't want to stay in her house. He just couldn't make sense of his feelings.

Hisana giggled and said, "First we should go to your house though. To let your parents know about today's events and get our stuff." Hisana said and with that the trio began making their way to the biggest house of the complex. Hisana wrapped her arms around Ryo's and Itachi's arms. That gesture made Ryo blush and Itachi smile. They truly were a complete team.

"Kinda wish Ayame-chan was here." Ryo chuckled.

"What? My hand not good enough?" Hisana frowned.

"N-No…"

"You're so gullible Ryo." Itachi said emotionlessly.

"Silence teme." Ryo hissed.

"Oh stop fighting you two." Hisana giggled. Ryo chuckled lightly whereas Itachi smiled. They truly were best friends.

"Ryo." Itachi said.

"Hm?"

"You're nothing like your father."

Ryo stared at his best friend. Itachi was really opening up to them and he was being friendlier too. "Thanks teme." He smiled.

"You two are so cute." Hisana giggled.

* * *

It took them a couple of minutes to reach Itachi's house and they were greeted by a hyperactive Sasuke who hugged the trio individually.

"How were your dates?!" He asked cheekily. Ryo and Hisana blushed whereas Itachi smiled.

"They were fine." He said as he patted his head. "Where are father and mother?" Itachi asked.

"They're in the living room." Sasuke said excitedly as he ran off.

Itachi led his teammates to the living room where Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto were enjoying their evening tea. Fugaku looked up and gave the trio a nod while Mikoto smiled at them. The trio gave them a respectful bow.

"So how were your dates?" Mikoto smiled.

"They were fine." Hisana said as she glanced at Itachi but there were more important things to discuss. "But we have something more important to discuss."

Fugaku picked up the seriousness in her sweet voice and looked up.

"The three of us have been promoted to Anbu." Itachi said with his stoic expression. Sasuke jumped excitedly and Mikoto clapped her hands together in delight but Fugaku remained stoic.

"That's wonderful news." Mikoto smiled at them. "When's your first mission?"

"Kakashi-san said that it would probably be next week. It depends though." Ryo answered.

"How does it depend?" Fugaku spoke his first words.

"Whether or not the mission is a success." Ryo replied evenly.

Fugaku studied their expression and then took a deep breath. "Well done." He grunted.

"There's another thing." Hisana said shyly.

"What is it dear?" Mikoto asked.

"I was wondering if Itachi-kun and Ryo-kun could come over to my house." She replied as blood rose up to her cheeks.

"Of course they can." Mikoto smiled. "Go back your things boys."

"What about me?" Little Sasuke pouted.

"Sorry Sasuke." Itachi smiled. "Maybe next time." He said as he poked his forehead with his index and middle finger. Sasuke frowned but then smiled a second later.

"I'll wait for you two outside. I don't have many things to pack." Hisana said as she left the room after bowing down to the heads of the Uchiha family.

Ryo and Itachi were about to walk off when Fugaku called out to his son. "Itachi." He grunted. "I need to have a word with you."

"I'll go on ahead." Ryo said as he made his way to Itachi's room.

Itachi sat down before his father and waited for him to speak. "Itachi." He started. "Remember where your loyalties lie. They lie with the Uchiha clan." He said making Mikoto flinch slightly. She knew something Itachi didn't.

"I understand." Itachi replied.

"You should start attending some of the clan meetings." Fugaku said. He wasn't suggesting it. It was an order. "You'll learn a thing or two." He added. Those words had an entirely different meaning. They meant that he was going to learn a truth that was within the clan and only the clan. Itachi gave him a reluctant nod and left the room.

"Isn't it a little too early?" Mikoto frowned. "He's just a child."

"The elders didn't think the same way you're thinking." Fugaku retaliated. "They've already made the first move. It's important that we begin this now." He said, ending the conversation. Mikoto sighed sadly.

"_Oh Itachi…" _She frowned in thought.

* * *

Itachi was busy packing with his best friend and it took Ryo quite a while because he had a lot of stuff with him and he ended up taking ten more minutes.

After saying their goodbyes, Team 5 headed over to Hisana's house.

"Now where are you three off to?" Garuda said as he jumped down from the tree.

"Sensei!" Ryo and Hisana said in unison.

"We're off to Hisana-chan's house." Itachi answered him while keeping a stoic expression.

"Ah I see. Congratulations on your promotion." He smiled.

"Thank you." Hisana and Ryo said in unison while Itachi just nodded.

"It's kind of sad though. We won't get to do many missions together anymore." Garuda pouted playfully.

"Don't worry sensei." Hisana smiled. "We'll get to hang out every now and then."

"I suppose. Well I don't want to keep you lovebirds waiting." He chuckled as he vanished with a poof leaving Ryo and Hisana blushing and Itachi smiling faintly.

They resumed their short journey and before they knew it, they had revived but Hisana stopped them from walking inside.

"What is it?" Ryo asked whereas Itachi shot her a quizzical look.

"My father is sometimes strict when it comes to…boys." She blushed when she looked at Itachi. "He won't say anything to you, Ryo, but he will question you, Itachi." She said shyly.

"_I guess it's time to meet the family." _Itachi groaned silently.

* * *

A.N: There you go. All done. Hope you guys liked it. Please review.

Super Girl Prime: Love the penname. Thank you for your review.


	8. Chapter 8

Before It All Began

A.N: Sorry it took me so long. I got injured while playing football and therefore I was incapable of working on this. Anyway, here's chapter 8. Please review and please enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 8

Hisana opened the door for them and hoped that they would meet her mother first but fate was too cruel for that. It was Hisana's father, Uchiha Kairi. The three gave him a bow and he nodded in acknowledgment.

"Hisana." Her father greeted her when his eyes fell upon her friends. "You brought friends?"

"Yes father. Surely you remember Ryo-kun and Itachi-kun." Hisana said hoping that he wouldn't get protective.

"Yes I do." He said as he shot the two an intimidating look. Ryo gulped whereas Itachi showed no sign of fear.

"They're here to stay over if that's okay." Hisana said uneasily.

Uchiha Kairi eyed the trio carefully but before he could respond, someone answered for him.

"Of course you can. Mikoto-san told me about your fantastic hospitality." The mother of Hisana, Uchiha Hokuto, said with a kind smile. "You're all welcome and I guess it would be rude to send you home now, right honey?" She said as she glared at her husband faintly. Neither Hisana nor Ryo saw that but Itachi paid attention to everything.

Kairi sighed and walked away before eyeing Itachi carefully. Itachi could've sworn that he saw a frown at the man's face. What did it mean? Was it because he did not find the Uchiha Itachi fitting to date his daughter? Said Anbu could only wonder.

"So how were your dates?" Hokuto asked as she giggled at the reaction she got out of Ryo and Hisana. She knew Itachi wasn't going to react to this. She had known the boy since he was a baby.

"It was fun." Hisana said – trying her best to hide her blush.

"I don't know much about Ayame-chan." She said as she turned to Ryo. "Is she a nice girl?"

"Um, yes. She's a very sweet girl." Ryo said as he blushed even harder.

"Oh how cute." Hokuto giggled as she turned her head to the stoic boy. "How about you Itachi? How did you find my little Hisana?"

"MOM!" Hisana shrieked as she turned into a tomato.

"Well?" Hokuto giggled at her daughter's reaction but she did however, want an answer from him.

Itachi knew that she wasn't going to let him go without an answer. He sighed and said, "Hisana-chan is a very nice girl." He said making Hisana almost faint. She couldn't believe he said that. Ryo expected an answer like that and so did Hokuto.

"Aren't you quite the gentleman." She giggled hoping to get a reaction out of Itachi but he merely nodded. She sighed and said, "I don't think any of you are hungry but if you are, please tell me." She said but she got three different reactions. Ryo merely turned his head from left to right, Hisana was in deep shock and therefore she was unable to respond and Itachi just kept his stoic expression on which meant that he didn't want anything.

"Hisana." She said bringing her daughter back to the real world.

"Y-Yes?"

"Please escort Itachi-kun and Ryo-kun to the guest room." She ordered.

The trio gave her a bow and then Hisana led her teammates to the guest room. The house was quite big but it wasn't bigger than Itachi's house. The walk was quiet and Ryo didn't like it.

"So Hisana-chan's a nice girl, eh teme?" Ryo smirked. Itachi glared at his best friend but didn't respond. Hisana didn't do anything. She wanted to tell Itachi to answer him but the words didn't escape her mouth. Itachi noticed her hesitance and something inside him felt weird. It upset him to see her frown. Why was she frowning? Was she frowning because he didn't answer Ryo's question? He didn't like to see her frown.

"Yes." He said as he noticed the light return to Hisana's eyes. "Yes she is." Hisana smiled at this.

"So she's a nice girlfriend?" Ryo continued with another smirk.

"Yes." Itachi answered again.

"Do you like her?"

This was the toughest question. Did he like her? As far as he knew, he…

"Yes." Itachi answered. Hisana was tempted to jump at him and hug the life out of him.

"You're awfully talkative today." Ryo smirked.

"Someone has to shut you up." Itachi chuckled softly.

Ryo ignored that last comment and went with his final question. "So, you gonna marry her?"

The next thing the poor Uchiha knew was that he was punched by not only Itachi, but by Hisana too.

"Enough about us!" Hisana growled – trying her best to hide her blush. "Why don't you marry Ayame-chan?!"

"Uh…I…"

"Idiot." Itachi stated.

"What was that teme?!" Ryo snapped.

"You heard me." Itachi smirked.

"You're smirking?!" Ryo snapped even louder. "Let me wipe that smirk right off your face!"

"Oh stop fighting you two." Hisana giggled as she stopped in front of a room.

"Finally!" Ryo said as he ran into the room. The room consisted of two beds, a bedside table in between the two beds, a window and a bathroom.

"We rarely have any visitors so there isn't much here." Hisana explained.

"It's good enough." Itachi thanked her. He was being more expressive than usual. He was legitimately happy. Hisana blushed and gave him a nod.

"My room is the last room down the hall. Tell me if you need anything." Hisana said as she opened the door to leave.

"Remember that well Itachi." Ryo smirked.

"Shut up Ryo." Itachi said with a glare.

"Meh whatever. I have to go for a leak." Ryo said as he opened the bathroom door.

"Be a little more civil. There's a girl here." Itachi scolded him but he didn't get a response. He did get one a few moments later when they could hear the sound of Ryo urinating. Itachi sighed and Hisana giggled.

"Thank you Itachi-kun." Hisana said.

"For what?" The cool Uchiha asked.

"For everything." She said as she leaned in – getting closer to his face. Itachi didn't see this coming. He wasn't ready for this. What was he going to do? Should he move away? His mother would beat him up and he didn't want to upset Hisana. Why was this so difficult? She was inches away. Where was she going to kiss him? The lips? The cheek?

Itachi tried his best to keep his composure – showing no emotions in the process but as soon as her lips brushed his cheeks, his eyes widened. The kiss lasted for only a second.

It took great courage on Hisana's part and she could tell that all went well when she saw Itachi's eyes slightly more open than usual and his cheeks had a shade of light red on them. For a second there she couldn't quite believe that Itachi showed so much emotion. It was a lot by his standards.

"Goodnight Itachi-kun." She smiled as she walked off to her room.

Itachi just stood there. He couldn't quite explain it but he didn't want her to go. He mentally slapped himself for thinking like that. He was Uchiha Itachi…but he was also human and humans do fall in love. He sighed silently and was about to close the door behind him but then he noticed someone's gaze upon him. This gaze felt heavy. It almost felt intimidating and Uchiha Itachi was never intimidated. He scanned the hall, the room and he even looked out of the window but saw no one and suddenly, the gaze disappeared.

"Itachi." Kairi said snapping the prodigy back to reality. Itachi knew for a fact that it wasn't Kairi's gaze that felt heavy.

"Yes sir?" Itachi asked – regaining his composure within a second.

"Come with me." He instructed and Itachi followed him to the lounge. He hinted the young Uchiha to sit down and he complied. Kairi eyed the prodigy for a few moments before speaking.

"I saw the little stunt my daughter pulled there. I apologize if it caused you inconvenience." He said as he kept his stoic mask on.

"I didn't mind. She was just being nice." Itachi replied truthfully.

"Of course she was." Kairi said as a smiled appeared on his face. "And you better not break her heart." He threatened.

"I wouldn't think of it." Itachi replied quickly. He honestly didn't want to be on his bad side. It was too troublesome. "Is there something else you wanted to talk about, sir?"

"Yes, there is." He said as the smile vanished. "I heard that my daughter, you and Ryo have been recruited by Anbu."

Word gets around fast.

"I want you to keep your teammates close." Kairi told him.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at this. Why would he tell him this? He was always going to keep them close. There was a motive. There was a reason he was being told this but what was it? Why were the adults acting so weird?

"I will." Itachi responded as he realized that he had been silent for a while.

"There are things going on that you are not aware of and we hoped that we wouldn't have to involve you in this but I guess it was inevitable and unfortunate."

"What exactly are those things?"

"That is not for me to tell." Kairi sighed as he stood up and began making his way out of the room.

"Your teammates are not to know of this conversation we had." It was an order.

Why was he being ordered around like this? Why was he the only one being told? Why weren't his teammates being included in these conversations? He would've felt better if they were with him and right now he needed the company of one of his teammates. He would prefer the company of Hisana but her father wouldn't approve.

Itachi went back in his room to find Ryo reading a journal. He never saw that journal ever before and he knew it wasn't new because it looked old. The pages were dented and the book was full of writing.

"It's my mother's journal." Ryo said – filling in Itachi's curiosity.

"What are you reading?" Itachi asked.

"The part after she gave birth to me." Ryo smiled. "Her happiest memory, according to this that is."

"I am sure it was." Itachi said with a rare smile. "I am sure she would've been proud of you."

"Thanks Itachi."

"Don't mention it. We're friends aren't we?"

"You're being awfully nice today. Did Hisana-chan have that much of an effect on you?" Ryo chuckled making Itachi chuckle lightly as well.

"We're not friends by the way." Ryo said. Itachi stared at him in confusion. That was a first for him too. He always knew what Ryo blabbered on about but not this time. Ryo chuckled at his confusion and said, "We're best friends."

Itachi was a little surprised but he showed that with a smile. "Yes we are."

* * *

_**The next morning…**_

As always, Itachi was up first. He lay in bed for a while – not knowing what he should do. It was a weekday and the household would wake up at 7 and he was up at 6 30. He decided to get up and go for a stroll. He went to the bathroom first to freshen up and found his teammate sound asleep. He smiled at the sight and walked out of the room.

He knew it was risky but he still wanted to make sure Hisana was alright. Of course she was going to be alright. He would feel better if he checked and so he did. He walked down the hall and slowly pushed her door open. He took a sigh of relief as he watched Hisana sleep peacefully. He wasn't sure why he was so concerned. Maybe he was starting to develop feelings for her. Was he really? Itachi was starting to get frustrated by these thoughts.

"_Why is this so difficult?" _He thought to himself as he clenched his fists. He took a deep breath and calmed down. He then noticed that Hisana was shifting a lot in her sleep. He considered it cute. Itachi wanted to go inside and sit next to her but he knew that this task carries unnecessary risks. He could enjoy her company up close when she was awake but did he have the courage to confess his feelings to her in a physical act?

He sighed and decided to go outside for a walk to clear his head. It was still quite early and there was hardly anyone in sight.

It was peaceful.

He wanted to protect this peace so much and this is why he drove himself to his limits. He improved himself everyday so he could protect those precious to him and this peace. His trail of thought had carried him to the border of the Uchiha complex. He turned back and began walking back to Hisana's house when suddenly, he felt the gaze again. The same gaze he felt the night before.

He scanned the area for any signs of movements but he found nothing hostile. Just the occasional wind that would mess up his perfect hair but nothing other than that. One would say that he was imagining things but Uchiha Itachi never imagined things.

Itachi stayed there for a good 10 minutes before he decided to go back home. He would be more alert next time.

He reached the house within a few minutes and was about to enter the house when he heard someone drop down behind him.

It was Kakashi.

The only reason he would be here with a serious look would mean that the mission was a failure.

"The mission was a failure. There were not one but two swordsmen." Kakashi said with a serious tone. "We must head out as soon as possible. Your sensei will be joining us. Go get your teammates."

He was right.

* * *

**A.N: Can anyone guess who the gaze belongs to? It should be pretty easy. Anyway, please review and tell me what you think.**

**Itachi-21: Itachi is my favorite character and I always wondered how his life was in his younger days. Hope you like this chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

Before It All Began

A.N: Alright guys I am back. Got nothing to say this time so here's the chapter. Enjoy and please review and tell me what you thought.

* * *

Chapter 9

The Anbu of Team 5 plus Kakashi and Garuda had gathered at the Hokage's office immediately after Itachi woke up his teammates. The two freshened up and gathered their ninja equipment and left along with Itachi and Kakashi.

This wasn't going to be easy.

At the moment, they were waiting for the Hokage to make his appearance.

"So they all failed the mission huh?" Ryo asked the masked ninja.

"Yes." Kakashi said as he buried his head inside his favorite perverted book. Hisana was disgusted at the sight of that book and swore that she would get the pervert who wrote this book.

"Is that all we know?" Itachi asked him.

"Dunno." Kakashi sighed. "Hokage-sama knows the details."

"I would've liked to say goodbye to Ayame-chan before I left." Ryo pouted.

"Isn't that cute." Garuda chuckled. "My student is concerned for his girlfriend." He said making Ryo blush.

"You'll get your chance." Itachi said calmly. "I left my weapons at home. I'll have to go and get them. You can use that time to say your goodbyes. Same goes for you, Hisana-chan." He didn't forget anything. He purposely left them so he, and his teammates, could say their goodbyes.

"Who knew you were so forgetful." Ryo smirked.

This Uchiha really was kinda dense.

A couple of minutes later, the Hokage entered. He gracefully walked over to his chair and sat down. The present ninjas gave him a bow and he held his arm up as acknowledgment.

"The ninjas that were sent to apprehend the swordsmen were all killed in battle." The Hokage said calmly. "Your mission is to capture or kill these swordsmen. Their death is preferred. This will be an S-Rank mission."

"How many of them are there?" Garuda asked.

"That is unknown but there must be at least two."

"How many shinobi were dispatched for this mission and what was their rank?" Hisana asked. It was a good question. This way they could find out the amount of difficulty they would face.

"One Anbu Black Ops captain and three mid ranked Anbu."

"Why doesn't the Mizukage take care of this? It's his mess." Kakashi said.

"We don't know that but we must take these criminals down." The Hokage said firmly. "And their current location is within the Land of Fire."

"When must we leave?" Itachi asked.

"Immediately. Once you have gathered everything you need for this mission." The Hokage paused. "You'll be leaving as a six man squad. Satsui Garuda, you'll be the Jonin captain. Your six man platoon will consist of four Anbu Black Ops, 1 Jonin and one other Shinobi.

Garuda nodded and did a quick headcount. There were only five of them here and he had no idea who the sixth member was. "Who's the sixth ninja?"

"He will meet you once you get to the scene." The Hokage answered.

"Who is _he_?" Ryo asked impatiently.

"He asked me not to tell any of you so I don't think I will but with him there, the mission should go easier than you would expect." The Hokage said as he suppressed a small smile. "He'll brief you when you get the there. We only know a little."

A shinobi that would make this mission a lot easier? Itachi brain stormed for possible candidates but he still hadn't come to a concrete conclusion. The person who would be joining them had to be an S-Rank ninja and Itachi could confidently say that he and his sensei were S-Rank Ninja. Kakashi was an exceptional ninja but the prodigy could defeat him in an all out battle. Ryo and Hisana were slightly above A-Rank shinobi but they weren't S-Rank material.

It was a long shot but could his father be involved with this mission? No, Fugaku wouldn't resort to childish antics as to keep his identity secret. He thought of a few more S-Rank shinobi and he even considered a possibility that Jiraiya of the Sannin could be the sixth member but it was unlikely. Unlikely, but not impossible.

It unsettled him that Hisana was coming with them. It's not that he didn't want her there. It's just that her life would be put in danger in this mission. He would rather have her stay here – completely safe but he knew that it was never going to happen. The somewhat shy girl had her pride.

"Now that you know as much as I do about this mission, I suggest you leave at once." The Hokage dismissed them. The present Anbu and Jonin gave him a bow and disappeared.

* * *

Once outside, Garuda told his students to go home and get ready while and Kakashi made their own preparations. They agreed to meet at the gates in twenty minutes.

Hisana took Ryo back to her house so he could get the things he needed. Ryo took a little detour before going to the gate as he wanted to say goodbye to Ayame. Itachi went back to his house to bid farewell from his brother, mother and his…father. In that order.

Itachi entered the house and found the family eating breakfast silently. Itachi smiled at Sasuke who was eating his eggs and toast heartily.

"Itachi!" Mikoto smiled as she gave her son a hug. "How come you're here? I figured that you'd eat at Hisana-chan's house."

Escaping from her clutches, he said, "We're leaving for a mission." Itachi said and as expected, Fugaku turned to him.

"Is that the mission Ryo-kun was talking about?" His father asked. Itachi nodded. "What rank?"

"S." Itachi replied.

Fugaku raised an eyebrow and proceeded with his next question. "What are the details and who'll be on your squad?"

"We don't know much except for the fact that we are to…" Itachi trailed off as he eyed his younger brother. He did not want to use the word kill near the innocent child. "We are to capture an unknown number of Mist Swordsmen."

He was cut off by Mikoto, "Mist Swordsmen?!" She gasped. "As in the Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist?"

Itachi nodded.

"Ryo, Hisana-chan, Garuda-sensei, Kakashi-san and a sixth member I have no knowledge of." Itachi answered the other question.

Fugaku silently growled at mention of Hatake Kakashi. No one outside the Uchiha clan deserved the Sharingan!

"When will you be leaving?" Mikoto asked with concern. Her son had done S-Rank missions before but this was a little too dangerous.

"In 15 minutes. I am supposed to meet everyone at the gates. I came home to say goodbye." Itachi said.

"Can I come too nee-san?!" Sasuke asked as he hugged his brother. Itachi smiled at his brother's antics.

"Maybe next time Sasuke." He said as he poked his forehead. Sasuke pouted but then a smile burst out on his smile.

"Take care of yourself Itachi and keep your teammates safe too." Mikoto said as she gave her son a comforting hug. Itachi could tell that she was very worried. He couldn't blame her. He would be worried too if his child were to go on a mission like this.

"I must go now." Itachi said as he gave his mother a faint smile and his father a nod.

"Itachi." Fugaku called out to him.

Itachi, surprised, turned around. Was his father going to tell him something encouraging? Something along the lines of 'Good luck' or 'be safe'? How naïve of him to even think that.

"There's a clan meeting next week." Fugaku dismissed him. The Uchiha man walked off leaving Itachi, uncharacteristically, pissed. Mikoto frowned and at her husband's actions and did not dare to meet Itachi's eyes. Innocent Sasuke had no idea what was going on, he just went on to carefully poke the yolk patch with a piece of bread.

Itachi had to thank his stoic mask to hide his anger. He took a deep breath and turned to his mother and brother. "Goodbye." He said silently and left the house.

* * *

Hisana saw Itachi jumped down in front of them but something was off about him. He looked calm but her gut feeling told her that he wasn't. She turned her head to her teammates but they seemed to be unaware of Itachi's troubles.

"Alright." Garuda grunted. "It'll take us a day and a half at full throttle to get to the town where they were last spotted but of course we'll be going at medium pace to avoid exhaustion. We don't know when or where we might encounter the enemy. We need to be at full strength and therefore we'll take two days."

"Should we wear our masks?" Hisana asked – secretly hoping that they didn't have to so she could observe Itachi's facial expressions.

"That won't be necessary. You can if you wish." Kakashi answered. He himself rarely wore a mask because his silver hair was a dead giveaway.

"Any questions?" Garuda asked one last time. Seeing the blank faces, he got his answers. "Team! Move out!"

* * *

As they jumped from tree to tree, Hisana kept staring at Itachi – trying to figure him out but his stoic mask seemed to be unreadable.

In Itachi's head, his father's words echoed without pause. What was so important about the meeting? Why wasn't his father a little more concerned for him or at least concerned for Ryo or Hisana-chan? Maybe he was paying too much attention to this matter. This wasn't important. The mission and Hisana's survival was more important. Wait, Hisana's survival? Did he really care that much?

"Alright kids." Garuda said as he dropped down from a tree. "We've been at it for 8 hours straight. I think we've earned ourselves a little break. We'll rest for one hour and then we'll head out."

Ryo took out his sword and poured his chakra into it. He eyed a huge boulder and cut horizontally – making a flat surface for them to sit on.

Ryo lied down and Itachi and Hisana sat next to him. Garuda and Kakashi discussed all threat possibilities.

"Itachi-kun?" Hisana said, breaking the prodigy's concentration. Unneeded concentration about something that didn't need his concentration.

"Hm?"

"Is there something bothering you?" Hisana asked. Itachi almost widened his eyes but managed to suppress that action.

How did she know?!

"No."

"Don't lie to me." Hisana said in an annoyed tone. "It's unfair for you to ask to be to open about our feelings and yet you don't share them."

Ryo paid attention to their argument but didn't say anything.

"It's nothing Hisana-chan."

"Tell me Itachi-kun." She pleaded.

Itachi was almost tempted to tell her but he couldn't. He didn't know why he couldn't tell her. He just couldn't.

"If you can't tell me then you should go back to the village." Hisana said angrily.

"What?"

"What?" Ryo added.

"You're obviously thinking of something other than the mission and that makes you incapable of following orders and making decisions with a clear head." Hisana said strictly.

For someone as young as her, she was quite mature and that was one of the things he appreciated about her.

What was he going to do now? Garuda and Kakashi would probably agree with Hisana and he would be sent home but would she really do that? What was with her? Why was she doing this? What does this have anything to do with her?

Just then he realized that he was being a retard. Of course it mattered to her. To her, he was more important than the mission and she wouldn't want him to get hurt because of his carelessness. Normally, he wouldn't do any mistakes but since they were gonna go up against Mist Swordsmen, mistakes could happen and he needed to be in top form to protect his friends.

He slapped himself mentally a billion times for his stupidity.

"Forgive me Hisana-chan." Itachi said calmly making Hisana breath normally again. "You are right. There's something bothering me." He admitted.

"Was that so hard?" Ryo laughed but he stopped quickly when Hisana and Itachi gave him a death glare.

"Thank you for telling us Itachi-kun. Get it all out of your system so you can go on with the mission with a clear conscious."

Itachi nodded and proceeded to tell them everything about what his father said in the morning. He left the clan meeting out but he told them how inconsiderate his father had been. He told them about the rage he felt and the two were quite shocked to hear that Uchiha Itachi was actually pissed.

Next thing the prodigy knew was that he was pulled into a hug. It happened so fast that he could not think of a way to escape from the hug but did he really want to? This hug felt odd. It didn't feel the same like when his mother hugged him. This one felt better. It was warm and seeing Hisana's face pressed against his chest made him feel…loved?

"We're here for you Itachi." Hisana comforted him.

"That's right teme." Ryo smiled with his teeth showing. "But don't expect a hug from me."

Itachi looked from Ryo to Hisana and from Hisana to Ryo. He truly was lucky.

* * *

Garuda watched his students from a distance and couldn't help but smile.

"Is this the best time for such a thing?" Kakashi asked his superior.

"Bonds make us strong Kakashi. Those who sever their bonds can never win and look at them!" He chuckled. "Aren't they cute? They're so young yet they're so devoted to each other."

"Bonds…" Kakashi sighed as slide show went through his head. His memories with his sensei, his best friend and the girl he had begun to love. They were all dead. He was brought back to reality when Garuda put his hand on the masked Anbu.

"You still have those bonds, Kakashi. You can be part of our little family." Garuda smiled at them.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. He never severed those bonds. Even if they were dead, a part of them still lived inside his heart. _"Sensei…Obito…Rin…"_

* * *

The trio were cleaning and sharpening their weapons and were having a good time too. They talked to each other and even Itachi included himself in the conversations.

"Ya know Itachi? One day I will beat you in every field!" Ryo smirked.

"Maybe when I am about to die of old age. Even that is unlikely." Itachi smirked back.

"Teme! I almost as good as you at Taijutsu!"

"What about Ninjutsu and Genjutsu?"

"Oh…well… uh…" Ryo tried to think of a comeback. "I am almost as good as you in Taijutsu!"

"You just said that and besides Hisana-chan is beyond us both in Genjutsu." Itachi said admittedly making said Uchiha blush. Hisana was indeed the most gifted Genjutsu user right after their older brother like friend, Uchiha Shisui and the head of the Yuuhi clan.

"The last time we had a test of genjutsu it took you to dispel it within ten minutes." Hisana objected. "It took me twelve and it took Ryo-kun twenty five."

"Hey! That was an S-Rank genjutsu put on us by the head of the Yuuhi clan!" Ryo objected.

"You and your lame excuses." Itachi laughed heartily.

* * *

**A.N: I have to end this here. I wanted to make it longer but I can't make it too long. I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please review. **

**Guest: Ah that will be difficult for me to type. I love these two and killing them will be so painful.**

**Itachi-21: Thank you. Nope, yours is Itachi-21 and mine is Kaiser La Britannia**

**Trickster707: Thank you and I hope you liked this chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

Before It All Began

Hey guys! I am back! Sorry it took longer than expected. I was lost on the road of life. Anyway, here's chapter. I hope you enjoy and please review.

* * *

Chapter 10

The five man platoon that was had been deployed from the Leaf Village had finally arrived to the small town that was being harassed by the Kiri Swordsmen. Their objective now was to blend in. The Anbu of Team 5 would act as common friends hanging around while Kakashi and Garuda would walk around the city separately. The basic objective was to gather intel.

Once changed, the five man platoon divided themselves into their assigned cells and departed. Hisana thought that this was the perfect time to bond a little with Itachi. Itachi didn't mind and Ryo encouraged it. So now Hisana and Itachi walked hand in hand and Ryo walked with his hands behind his head.

Behind their smiles, hid the look of powerful ninjas as nothing escaped their eyes but so far, nothing interested them. Yeah sure, they saw a lot of collateral damage and very frightened villagers. They decided to change their facial expressions to fit in so now Hisana clung onto Itachi and he held her like she was the most precious thing on the planet and Ryo walked in front of them to show that he was their protector.

"These people are scared beyond belief." Ryo whispered.

"The killer intent from the swordsmen must've gotten to their heads." Itachi said.

Hisana frowned at the sight of the scared children. It didn't settle well with her to see that so many people were in pain. This motivated her to finish her mission effectively so these people can find a reason to smile again.

"You okay?" Itachi asked.

"Y-Yeah." She said as blood rose up to her cheeks. He was being very caring.

"Isn't that cute?" Ryo snickered.

"Shut up Ryo." The couple spoke in unison.

Hisana's glare was burning a hole into Ryo's back and said Anbu could almost feel it but then her glare shifted its death gaze to something else. She saw a man, probably in his 40s with long white spiky hair, two shoulder length bangs and red lines down from his eyes and he was wearing a horned forehead protector which had the kanji for 'oil'. He wore a green short shirt and matching pants. He wore mesh armor underneath, wooden sandals a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side and finally a scroll that was resting on his back. This man was peeping through a hole which led to the women's steam bath and Hisana didn't like that.

A fire ignited her eyes and she screamed, "PERVERT!"

The old man fell backwards from his squatting position and Hisana's scream alerted the ladies inside and that caused uproar. The old man yelped and began ran off.

"You're not getting away from me!" Hisana growled as she activated her Sharingan. She wasted no time and ran after him.

"Hisana-chan! Wait!" Ryo called out to her. He looked over to Itachi who was as confused as he was. "Hope you're not closet pervert Itachi." He chuckled easily. "She'll beat you senseless. "

"Shut up Ryo. Let's go." Itachi said as he ran after his girlfriend.

The boys were close behind their female teammate but something seemed unsettling. They could swear that they'd seen this old man somewhere.

"Say teme." Ryo said.

"Hn?"

"Does that guy seem familiar to you?"

Itachi had been thinking the same thing. He seemed to be familiar. He didn't get a clear glance at him until after he made a run for it. Then it clicked. White hair, those clothes, wooden sandals, a sealing scroll! That man running from them was none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin.

"That's Jiraiya-sama." Itachi said coolly.

"Jiraiya?" Ryo said questioningly. That name sounded familiar. "_The _Jiraiya of the Sannin?!"

Itachi nodded and said, "He's the sixth member of our platoon."

"Then we have to catch up and make sure Hisana doesn't kill him!" Ryo gasped. Itachi nodded and sent chakra to their soles to increase their speed.

The Toad Sage was running away from the feisty little girl who was hot on his trail. He studied her closely and saw the Sharingan flaring in her eyes. His eyes widened a little as he realized that she must be part of the team his sensei sent from the village. He came to this decision, not only because she had the Sharingan flaring in her eyes, she was also keeping up with him. Of course he wasn't running as fast as he could but he was going pretty fast.

"Hisana-chan! Stop!" Ryo called out to her but she didn't stop. She was going to put this pervert in his place.

"HISANA!" Itachi exclaimed and as the prodigy expected, she stopped. Jiraiya stopped too and watched the scene from a distance.

She slowly turned around, still slightly enraged, and said, "But Itachi-kun! He-"

"He is the sixth member of our platoon. Jiraiya of the Sannin." Itachi said calmly making Hisana gasp in shock.

She didn't expect that a Sannin would join their team but she also didn't expect that this Sannin was a pervert. From what she heard was that the three legendary Sannin were one of the strongest ninjas to ever exist.

"J-Jiraiya-sama?" She gasped as she turned around to meet the person she was hell bent on punishing.

"Sorry about all that young lady." Jiraiya said as he scratched the back of his head. "You remind me a lot of my teammate Tsunade." He chuckled. "Feisty."

"Jiraiya-sama." Itachi gave a bow.

"At ease Uchiha." Jiraiya said calmly.

"Team 5 reporting for duty sir!" Ryo exclaimed nervously. He was in front of a Sannin after all. Itachi elbowed him – telling him to calm down. Jiraiya smiled at the two boys. The nervous one reminded him of himself and the other reminded him of…his former teammate.

"At ease. Who did the old man assign as leader?" Jiraiya asked lazily.

"Satsui Garuda." Itachi replied.

"State your names." Jiraiya demanded.

"Uchiha Itachi."

"Uchiha Ryo."

"Uchiha Hisana."

"Who's the other member?" Jiraiya asked.

"Hatake Kakashi."

"So the old man wants this done eh?" Jiraiya said as he stretched his arms.

"That is correct, Jiraiya-sama." The familiar voice of Garuda spoke as he and Kakashi appeared in front of the rest of the squad.

"Ah Kakashi! Garuda! It's been a long time." Jiraiya said heartily.

The Anbu of Team 5 eyed their sensei curiously. He never told them that he knew the toad sage.

"Indeed Jiraiya-sama." Garuda greeted.

"When's your next novel coming out?" Kakashi asked lazily.

Hisana just couldn't believe how perverted the Sannin was. Not only did he peep on women, he also wrote that disgusting book that the silver haired Anbu always read. She tightened her grip on Itachi's hand to suppress her anger. Itachi would've winced from the pain if he didn't know how to hide his facial expressions but he did have somewhat of a strained expression on his face.

"You okay teme?" Ryo asked. "You look kinda constipated."

"Shut up Ryo." Itachi glared at him.

The six man platoon regrouped at the village after checking in one of the hotels. Five of them sat in front of the sixth member, Jiraiya, and they were waiting to be provided with details about the mission. They were in for a roller coaster.

"Alright. Since we're all settled." Jiraiya said as he eyed the five members carefully.

Satsui Garuda, a Kekkei Genkai user. The last of his kind to use the Hariton (Spike Style). An S-Rank Jonin of Konoha who has completed over two hundred S-Rank missions.

Hatake Kakashi, otherwise known as Copy Nin Kakashi. He wields the Sharingan in his left eye which was given to him by his teammate, Uchiha Obito. He's also the son of Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo. He was also an avid reader of his own Icha Icha Paradise.

He didn't know much about the three Uchihas except for the fact that they were all prodigies. However, this Itachi brat was a cut above the rest. The Hokage told him about this prodigy and said that he hadn't seen anyone as gifted as him since Namikaze Minato. Oh the painful memories.

"Now that we're all here, I can begin."

"As you know, the Anbu squad previously deployed for this mission was killed and those Mist scum did well to hide their bodies. We lost good men."

"We are dealing with three swordsmen of the mist. One of them is Kushimaru Kuriarare. He's one of the most powerful Shinobi Kiri has ever produced. He's a master in the arts of silent killing. He wields the longsword Nuibari. He can basically stitch people together using wires that are at the end of his needle like sword."

"The second is Ringo Ameyuri. She's also capable of using Silent Killing to its maximum. She uses the twin swords, Kiba. These swords are imbued by lightening which are claimed to be the strongest swords ever made. Saying that, she's an expert in Raiton, both, long range and short range."

Hisana and Kakashi tensed slightly as lightening was their area of expertise. They had done many dangerous S-Rank missions but taking on three of Kiri's swordsmen was a cute above the rest.

"And finally. The last of three is Hozuki Mangetsu. This one is a tricky bastard. Not only is he a master of Silent Killing. He has mastered all swords that the swordsmen use and he can summon them at will. This one is going to be the trickiest to deal with but with me around, this mission will go smoothly."

He wasn't showing off. This pervert was right. He's among the most powerful of shinobi to walk on this earth.

"Any questions?"

"Formations?" Kakashi asked.

"There are three of them and six of us so I guess we'll have two of us take on one of them." Ryo said.

"Not quite, Ryo-kun." His sensei spoke.

"Jiraiya-sama is capable enough to take on one of them on his own. If he were to go all out, he could beat all three of them." Itachi argued.

"Maybe." Jiraiya spoke. This boy was very insightful. "It is as Itachi said. I'll take on one of them. Garuda and Kakashi will take on one of them and you three of you will take on the last one."

"Shouldn't we go for specific opponents?" Hisana asked. "We do have the Sharingan and we can use a variety of Jutsu but we should still take on those who we'll have an advantage over."

"My students are so bright. Well at least two of them." Garuda smiled.

"Hey!" Ryo exclaimed.

"That is a good idea. I'll take on Hozuki. Garuda and Kakashi will take on Kushimaru and you brats will take on Ringo."

The Sannin received nods from the team in front of him and smiled inwardly at the kids. He turned to them and said, "I know you're only kids but failure will not be accepted."

The old sage felt bad saying that to them but he knew that they were mature enough to take this responsibility.

* * *

_**Back in Konoha…**_

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat on his chair comfortably as he gazed into his crystal ball. He was observing a certain hyperactive blonde making a ruckus in the village with several Chuunin chasing him. He smiled at the sight but he also felt slightly bad for the boy. He didn't even know why people hated him. Sometimes the Hokage felt like going up to each and every one of them and make them apologize to the blonde.

He sighed and sensed a chakra signature head towards his office. The next thing he knew, an Anbu with a fox mask stood in front of him.

"Report." The Hokage sighed lazily.

"Hokage-sama." The Anbu bowed. "I have an urgent message from the reconnaissance team that was sent to the border last week." He said as he handed the old man with a scroll.

The Hokage read through the contents of the scroll when his eyes widened midway. This couldn't be! Not now!

"Grab every available Jonin and report back immediately!" The Hokage growled and the Anbu vanished immediately.

They were going to need backup.

* * *

**A.N: Sorry for the late and rather short update. I was busy with helping an old lady carry her shopping bags home. Hope you liked this chapter. Please review.**


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